Travels in Lower Canada [microform] : with the author's recollections of the soil, and aspect, the morals, habits, and religious institutions of that country

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TRAVELS

LOWER CANADA,

WITH THE AUTHOR’S RECOLLECTIONS OF

THE SOIL, AND ASPECT; THE MORALS, HABITS,

AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS,

THAT COUNTRY.

By JOSEPH SANSOM, Esa.

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF
LETTERS FROM EUROPE, &c.

|

Most National Habitudes are the Result of unobserved Causes and Necessities.
GRAY.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS anp Co.

BRIDR-COURT, BRIDGE-STREET; AND TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS,

1820.

W. Lewis, Printer, 21, Finch-lane, Cornhill.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

We have hitherto had no accounts of Canada written
by American travellers. We have only seen our next
neighbours, through the magnifying glasses of superfi-
cial observers ; who inverted the telescope, when they
contemplated Independent America; and we have ac-
cordingly no information, upon which we can rely, of
the sentiments of the people, or the comparative situa-
tion and future prospects of that country. We know
not whether the French, in Canada, are to be dreaded
as enemies, or be conciliated as friends.

The Author of the following work, when it was put
to press (after having been hastily written, from pen-
ciled memorandums, during a fortnight’s stay at Balls-
town and Saratoga) had no idea of any thing more than
a simple narrative of a journey, during which some in-
teresting circumstances had unexpectedly occurred ; and
the title, printed on the first page, is accordingly “ A
Trip to Canada.”? But the composition insensibly as-
suming a more historical and scientific form, in going
through the press, amidst the libraries of New York, it
was decided in a literary circle, at Dr. Hosack’s, that
the scope of the work demanded a more elaborate de-
signation: and the title has been accordingly varied to
that of « Travels in Lower Canada, historical and de-
scriptive ;” the discrepancy of which, with the styde
and matter of a Book of Travels, may possibly be ex-

iv Preliminary Observations.

cused by the learned, in favour of the obvious occasion
for more general views of society on the American con-
tinent, than have hitherto obtained, either at home or
abroad.

New York, Sept. 20.
ee

*" THE Editor of this London Journal has preferred to
allow Mr. Sansom to speak for himself in his own words, con-
ceiving that this would be more just towards him; and that, as
a specimen of Americanisms, used by a man of’ good education,
the work would thus be a greater curiosity to those English
Readers, who are not aware of the deterioration which the
language is suffering in the United States. For analogous
reasons, many opinions of the Republican Author are retained,
because they will add to the interest of the work, though they
may sometimes offend by their coarseness, and evident want of
discrimination. If, however, an individual, or a people, would
correct errors, the exposition of them must be borne, from
whatever quarter or country it proceeds.

These observations apply chiefly, however, to the work of Mr.
Sansom ; for the “ Virginian Sketches” are obviously the pro-
duct of a mind disciplined, by accurate researches, in those
sciences which bear with obvious advantage on the subjects of
observation.

Lonpon, March 1820.

—_i = Dp _.

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TRAVELS

IN

LOWER CANADA.

NDER the impressions hinted at in my prefatory re-

marks, at three o'clock P.M. on the 30th day of June,
1817, I stepped on-board of the Bristol steam-boat, at Market-
street wharf, with a portmanteau, containing nothing more
than was absolutely necessary, a cane in my hand, and
Thomson’s Seasons in my pocket; but no other companious
excepting such as I might meet with in the public convey-
ances, who may be not inaptly considered the tourist’s family,
as the inn is said to be the traveller’s home.

We reached Bristol in due time and in perfect safety, from
moving accidents by fire or flood, notwithstanding the really
terrifying explosions that have lately happened on-board of
these accommodatory conveyances; I having purposely avoided
the superior expedition which, promised by the steain-boat
Etna, for the sake of ease and safety, under the graduated
force of what is called the lower pressure, for whose secure
operation we are indebted to the late ingenious Robert
Futon, of New York.

We started immediately from Bristol in the York stage, one
of the six or seven passengers being a cre sia from New Or-
leans, who had already travelled in similar couveyances fifteen
hundred miles an end.

We lodged at Princeton that night, entered the steam-boat
Sea-Horse at Elizabethtown Point, and landed at New York
time enough to dine at the City Hotel, a place of entertainment
little, if at all, inferior to the London Tavern, or the Red
House at Frankfort, so muc?. and so justly celebrated by Eu-
ropean travellers.*

* Before entering Brunswick, or between that ancient town which pre-
serves so much of the neatness and formality of its primitive inhabitants, and
the delightful village of Newark, which has been so often selected as the
temporary residence of involuntary refugees of quality, from different parts
of Europe; as the driver lingered along the sands of Jersey, we passed by

Vovaces and Travens, Mo. 2. Vol. UIT.

Travels in Lower Canada.

NEW VORK.

I shall not stop to describe the Bay of New York, nor to
make comparisons which might lead me to Naples or Con-
stantinople, though neither of those places unite the various
advantages of sea and river communication; and they must
therefore yield, in point of convenience, to the American em-
porium—whatever superiority they may possess in expanse of
water, or diversity of objects—the rich inheritance of a hun-
dred ages.

The islands in the Bay of New York haying been stripped
of wood, are not very ornamental, and one‘of them, which has
been fortified, obstructs, by a massy tower, the view which was
formerly enjoyed of the entrance called the Narrows, through
which whole fleets could be seen on their first entering the
bay, and before they approached the basin; where alone they
are now visible to a spectator on the battery—a promenade of
health and pleasure, always crowded of an evening with the
familiar intercourse of youth and beauty amid the retiring
sons of business and care. The shores of Staten Island, an
even those of the North River, are too distant to admit the
charm of distinct variety, but those of Long Island, as they
stretch along toward the Sound, are beautifully variegated
with hills and valleys, woods and cultivated fields, near enough
to gratify the eye with ideas of rural tranquillity, even from the
busy quays of a sea-port town,

But, as an admirer of architecture, I cannot pass without
notice the City-hall, for the costly magnificence of which we
are probably indebted to that national taste for the substantial,
which induced the Dutch ancestors of our New York burghers
to erect, at Amsterdam, a fabric, upon piles, which is justly
ranked among the first public edifices in Europe.

The principal front and two sides are of white marble ;
the back front and the basement story of freestone, of a red-

one tavern, the sign of the Union, and stopped to water at another under
the same patronage. These people are great admirers of union, it would
seem, said one of our company. Yes, replied I, they are so fond of union
that they di-vide it. We had come on so very slowly, for the last few miles,
that one had proposed to put a enapper upon the driver’s whip, as we waited
for him without quitting our seats ; and, he staid so long at the bar while the
people of the house were sitting down to meat, that another suspected he
was going to breakfast there, and we should have to wait till he was done.
That would be an unlucky snap for us, said I. He, however, presently
came out again, and we drove off at an accellerated pace ; but, it was not long
before we snapped one of our jack-springs, and we were fain to crack our
jokes with less merriment the rest of the way.

nor to
r Con-
various
y must
an em-
anse of
a hun-

ripped
ich has
ch was

hrough
ng ie

e they
ade of
ith the
etirine:
1, and

it the
as they
egated
nough
‘om the

vithout
‘ich we
tantial,
rebers

justly

arble ;
a red-

Yr under
t would
of union
w miles,
> waited
hile the
‘cted he
s done.
resently
10t long:
ack our

New York. 3

dish cast; both of which are found in quarries within a hundred
miles of the spot.

This noble structure is two stories high, and it is orna-
mented with a portico of eight columns, each hewn out of a
single block, fifteen feet in length; and pilasters of the Tonic
and Corinthian orders are carried round the building, with
their appropriate entablatures—all executed in marble.

The second story shows nineteen windows in a row—the
number of individual states at the time it was finished. Thus
tacitly marking the date of its erection. The five intercolum-
niations in the entrance correspond to as many arcades,
which open upon the portico for egress and regress—like the
arched doors, of satel ani beh, belonging to its prototype in
Holland.

One of the fronts of that building (I cannot remember
which) has a figure of Atlas supporting the Globe—Admire
this happy emblem of Dutch patience and perseverance.

The New York City-hall is two hundred feet long—eighty
deep, in the projecting wings, which enclose a flight of twenty
steps, sixty or eighty feet in length, for they are returned at
the sides. It is sixty feet to the eaves, and the roof is sur-
mounted by a cupola, ornamented with coupled columns, and
a statue of Justice, with her suspended scales, at a height of
ninety feet from the ground.

In this cupola a light is kept every night, by a watchman
who cries the hour, from this elevated situation; and gives
the alarm in case of fire.

I shall not describe the interior of this superb edifice, with
its circular hall, and double staircase, with its columns, its balus-
trades, and its dome. The picture-gallery, or hall of audi-
ence, hung with portraits of the governors of New York, and
the presidents of the union. Or the council chamber ; glit-
tering with gold and scarlet; as I am not quite satisfied that
so much splendour is consistent with practical republicanism:
and we know that the Town-hall of Amsterdam has been al-
ready converted into the palace of a sovereign.

In short, I am sufficiently superstitious in political omens,
to dread the inference (however unlikely it may be thought—
every where—but at Washington) that where there are palaces
there will be princes.

But I can take a view of Broadway, without turning aside,
as it is my road to the hotel I put up at.

This beautiful avenue comes in straight for a mile, lined on
both sides with every variety of public and private buildings
—churches, halls, houses, many of which are ornamented with
taste; shops, in which tery eceeantys and every luxury of

—EE

4 Travels in Lower Canada.

life are displayed with elegance and splendour, After it has
passed the Stadt House above-mentioned, which by the way is
now sadly obscured by ragged trees, which entirely prevent a
front view—they sight be readily exthanged for a neat
clump or two, at distant intervals, leaving from the street an
uninterrupted view of the structure in different directions.

The street now winds to the left, and gradually widens until
it Opens upon the water, after forming a triangular plot, which
is railed in with an iron balustrade, and once exhibited a
statue of king George. This was removed at the revolution—
but the pedestal remains, and it is hoped that it will not be
long before the liberal and patriotic citizens of New York
shall replace the historical monument with—another GeorcE
—far better entitled than the former to the veneration of
posterity.*

THE NORTH RIVER.

Next day [took my passage for Aibany, in the Paragon,
or the Car of Neptune, U forget which—but any of the steam-
boats of the North River are justly entitled to either of these
proud appellations. Since they prooceed—not, wind and
weather permitting, like all anterior navigators; but against
wind and tide, at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour.
And they are not exceeded in one of their dimensions—that of
length, by a ship of the line.

a ee

* Of the extent and accommodations of the superb inn before mentioned,
some idea may be formed by the sum which has been just laid out upon fur-
ishing, and fitting it up, for the use of the present tenant, It was not less
than thirty thousand dollars, and he pays for it the liberal rent of ten thou-
sand dollars a-year.

Family parties are provided for ina distinct part of the establishment, with
the use of elegant drawing-rooms ;: and public entertainments were given, oc-
casionally, in apartments of magnificent dimensions, on the principal floor: but
at the Zable d’ Hote the fare is excellent, and a hundred persons sit down there
every day, in the summer scason, when New York becomes the grand tho-
roughfare between the south and ihe north, during the stated migration of
the gentry of the southern states, toward the more salutary regions of New
England and the Canadian provinces, where the heat of summer is compa-
ratively temperate, and to a southern constitution highly invigorating.

Here the Scotchman of Detroit, and the Frenchman of New Orleans,
from the borders of Jaake Huron and the Banks of the Mississippi—w hen at
home not less than two thousand miles apart, meet each other half-way, upon
common ground, as American citizens, professing allegiance to the consti-
tuted authorities of the same republic.

And the occupant of central woods and waters here shakes hands and in-
terchanges sentiment and information, with brother sailors ; who seek a live-
lihood upou the eastern coasts of the Atlantic, penetrate every nook and
corner in the Baltic, or the Mediterranean, or doubling either Cape, ransack
the Antipodes for objects of commercial enterprise.

er it has
je way is
revent a
a neat
street an
ons.
2ns until
t, which
ibited a
lution—
| not be
w York
(FEORGE
ation of

aragon,
» steam-
of these
nd and
against
n hour,
—that of

entioned,
upon fur-
s not less
ten thou-

ent, with
rivell, Oc-
floor: but
pwn there
and tho-
ration of
Ss of New
8 compa-
g.
Orleans,
when at
ay, upon
le consti-

sand in-
k a live-
ook and
ransack

The North River. 5

We left the dock about tive in the evening, and the next
day, about noon, as I was leaning over the prow, and contem-
plating alternately the moving landscape on either hand, and
the water over which we were imperceptibly gliding, I per-
ceived something forward that looked like slender spires, at
the head and foot of a distant hill, It was Albany, and by
three o’clock we stepped ashore again, one hundred and sixty
miles north of the capital, which we had quitted but twenty-
two hours before.

The distance, I am told, has been run down the stream in
seventeen hours; formerly an uncertain voyage of three or four
days, or a week or two, according to the state of the winds and
tides.

A few miles before we reached Albany, we met the Chan.
cellor Livingston, said to be the finest boat on the river. She
looked, indeed, very gay upon the water. We passed each
other with the most animating rapidity, and the adverse mo-
tion of two such vessels, breasting the surge, in a narrow part
of the river, made a sensible concussion of the waves from
shore to shore.*

The influx of multitudes on-board these boats, arriving in
crowds, on foot, and in carriages; their punctuality of de-
parture, which often leaves lingerers upon the wharf, to follow,
as they can, in boats, which are always ready to put off after
them; together with the unvarying steadiness of their pro-
gress, admitting of the most entire independence, and the most
unobstructed observation—whether of moving life, perpetually
flitting before your eyes; or of the face of Nature, ever calm
and majestic, yet alternately rising and receding in perpetual
variation, keep the mind in a state of animating excitement.

* On my return, a month afterward, this same vessel, the Chancellor Li-
vingston, which had just brought up two hundred passengers, in nineteen
hours, was in course to go down the stream. ‘There had been a freshet in
the river, which is here about three hundred yards over: yet this fine ship
Coue hundred and fifty-seven feet long) seemed to require the whole space to
turn in, as she swung round from the whart, in majestic evolution, and when
she began to descend the stream, which was now unusually rapid, ber motion
seemed to sway the river, and command the current. The wake of a ship
measuring five hundred tons, and proceeding at the rate of ten or twelve
miles an hour (for we reached Hudson, which is thirty miles, in two hours
and three-quarters) soon spread itself trom side to side, and produced a visi-
ble agitation upon both shores of the river.—'The sea-boats which ply in Long-
Island Sound sometimes make thirteen knots an hour; but one is accustomed
to flying at Sea, and the receding shores of a river give a stronger sensation
of rapidity, by the comparisons which they afford with the apparent motion
of stationary objects. She cost one hundred and ten thousand dollars, and
sometimes makes for her owners fifteen hundred dollars a trip.

6 Travels in Lower Canada.

A’ constant change of company is perpetually going on, iti
this little world. Some getting out at every great town, o7
noted landing-place, and others coming in; but all this is ma-
naged with little or no delay of the moving Ark, by merely
slackening her course, and lowering a boat, which discharges
her burthen with astonishing dexterity, and—to me, terrifying
speed.

There is another circumstance of communication with the
adjacent shores, which takes place occasionally —Nothing is
wanted but an exchange of papers, for instance—A boat puts
off from the shore, and at the same instant, another boat quits
the vessel. They meet, as it were on the wing, for the speed
of the steam-boet is not now at all impeded to favour the
operation, and it takes place between the passing watermen
in the twinkling of ap eye.

The animating bugle gives notice of approach, and the
bell rings for departure. Every thing concurs to create bustle
and interest. People of the first consequence are often among
the passengers; amidst whom they can lay claim to no pecu-
liar privilege, or accommodation. The only exception is in
favour of the ladies; who have a cabin to themselves, where
gentlemen are not permitted to intrude.

Bye-laws are enacted for the preservation of order, and the
forfeitures incurred are scrupulously exacted.

There were no persons of particular note on this voyage, wer
nor any of those amusing characters styled great talkers—one mo)
or more of whom is generally to be found in all companies,
who voluntarily, and ex mero motu, take upon themselves the

——EE

task of entertaining the silent part of their species. 7

On a former occasion, I had been highly diverted by a son Jul

of Chief-Justice J:y-—himself a limb of the law, to enforce leb:

the laws and usages cf the steam-boat, with all the affected lou:
formalities of legal process. Under his humorous arrange- rejc

meit, the offender was put to the bar. Witnesses appeared, tect

and counsel, on both sides, pleaded the merits of the case— hea

not to be sure with all the gravity and decorum which are tior

laudably observed in cases of high crimes and misdemeanors ; J

but with sufficient acuteness aud pertinacity. What was want- I

ing in solemnity was made up in laughter, and I remember of |

young Jay kept the quarter-deck in a continual roar. hav
I have ever since regretted that I did not preserve a sketch con
of his opening speech, which was introduced with all the pre- the

cision of serious argument.—Several persons of note were then sub

present. I recollect particularly Governor Lewis; some of the

the Morrises from Morrisania, and the lady of a former governor per

of South Carolina.

ig on, iti
town, or
his is mas
y merely
ischarg'es
terrifying

with the
othing is
boat puts
oat quits
the speed
our the
watermen

and the
ite bustle
on among
no pecu-
tion is in
1s, where

, and the

voyage,
ers—one
pmpanies,
elves the

by ason
» enfarce
affected
arranges
ppeared,
e case—
hich are

eanors ;
as want-
emember

a sketch
the pre-
ere then
some of
povernor

From Albany to Lake Champlain. 7

Ferry-boats, propelled by steam, and so constructed that
carriages drive in and out, at pleasure, may be observed at
every large town on the north river. These convenient vehi-
cles are likely to supersede the use of bridges, or navigable
waters. They are, in fact, a sort of flying-bridge, with this
advantage even over the numerous and costly structures of that
kind, which now span the broad surface of the Susquehannah,
in the interior of Pennsylvania. They do not require such ex-
pensive repairs, and they may be secured from the eftects of
sudden floods: but what is of far more importance, they pre-
sent no obstruction to the stream, and are no hindrance to na-
vigation.

The shores of the north river, sublime as they are, where the
Allegheny mountains must have crossed from west to east, be-
fore the lofty chain was broken through, to admit the passage
of the river (the sight of which is unfortunately lost to tra-
vellers by the steam-boats running through the Narrows in the
night) owe much of their interest and beauty to the superb seats
of the Livingstons and the Clintons, some of which overhang the
water, at an imposing elevation. Spectators from these mostly
line the bluffs, at the passage of the steam-boats, which seem to
electrify every thing within their sphere. And the antiquated
mansions of the Schuylers and Van Rensselaers, in the vici-
nity of Albany, are beheld with historic recollections, as the
places where General Burgoyne and his ahaa er officers
were quartered, until they could be exchanged, after the me-
morable defeat at Saratoga.

FROM ALBANY TO LAKE CHAMPLAIN.

The next day after our arrival at Albany was the 4th of
July ; and the good citizens of Albany were preparing to ce-
lebrate the declaration of ee pen cence te as Weld ridicu-
lously represents, from the information of his host, as if they
rejoiced against the grain, regretting in their hearts the pro-
tection of Great Britain; but with all the zeal and fervour of
heart-felt exultation, for the incalculable advantage of na-
tional independence, and emancipation from a foreign yoke.

But I was now become earnest to reach Canada.

I had intended to take Ballston on my way, for the benefit
of the mineral waters, for which that place and its vicinity
have become so celebrated, since Sir William Johnson was
conducted hither by Indians in 1767, to drink the water of
the rock spring for the removal of the gout, towhich he was
subject. But my mind I found was now too much engaged in
the ultimate objects of pursuit, to admit of turning — side at this
period of the journev.

8 Travels in Lower Canada. ‘

So, finding myself in time for the steam-boat on Lake
Champlain, at ten o’clock, instead of going to hear a historical
oration from some patriotic burgher of Platt Deutch, descent,
T took my seat in another stage-coach; lodged, I forget where ;
and enclicd White-hall about noon, an hour or two before the
putting off of the steam-boat for St. John’s, the first town, or
rather village, in Canada.

By the way this White-hall is not a royal palace, nor even

a gentleman’s seat; but a small post-town at the mouth of

Wood Creek. It is the same that was called Skeensborough
(Query, why change the name ?) when Weld wrote his ingeni-
ous comparisons between Canada and the United States, and
fearlessly quoted General Washington as his authority, for
the palpable falsehood that the musquitoes of this place would
bite through the thickest boot—The musquitoes have since
utterly vanished—stings and all; and they would have been
quietly forgotten, together with the fire-flies, and bull-frogs,
and supposed rattle-snakes of other translantic peregrinators,
in American wilds, if it had not been for this contemptible
story—preserved, like bugs in amber, by their unaccountable
conjunction with the pellucid name of Washington.—Rattle-
snakes are already so rare in America, that I, who have tra-
velled thousands of miles in our back country, never met with
but one of them; and no doubt they will become, in another
century, as scarce as snakes are said to be in Ireland, through
the interference of St. Patrick; though the fact may very well
have happened without a miracle, since Ireland has been
peopled for. thousands of years, and every peasant has a hog
or two, to whom snakes are a favourite repast.

But before I take boat, let me recall the village of Schagti-
coke, which was passed on the road, somewhere about midway
—the never-enough celebrated berg or dorff from which the
cervantic genius Knickerbocker, in his incomparable history
of New-York, derives his pretended pedigree. The scattered
houses of which it consists are built in nooks and crannies
round the yawning gulf of a roaring cataract, which descends
between jutting rocks and craggy pines, with as many
twists and turns, and as much of spray and splutter, as the
never to be forgotten work itself proceeds under its charac-
teristic motto :

Die wahrheit die in dunster lag,
Da kommt mit klahrheit an den tag.

The truth which late in darkness lay
Now breaks with clearness into day.

t on Lake
a historical
h, descent,
beste
» before the
st town, or

P, nor even

ensborough
his ingeni-
States, and
thority, for
place would
have since
have been

bull-frogs,

regrinators,
mntemptible
accountable
n.—Rattle-
10 have tra-
er met with
in another
id, through
y very well
has been

| has a hog

of Schagti-
ut midway
. which the
ble history
le scattered
ids crannies
h descends

as many
tter, as the
its charac-

mouth of

Lake Champlain. 9

Or perhaps better :

Truths which lay hid in darkest night
My pen shall bring again to light.

LAKE CHAMPLAIN.

To return to the steam-boat, on Lake Champlain, though it
is greatly inferior in size and accommodation to those on
the North River, (at least so was the boat which conveyed me $
but a new one has just commenced running, which is said to
excel them in elegance and speed) yet it will bear a compari-
son even with the English post-chaise, or other mode of easy
and rapid conveyance ; in despite of Dr. Johnson’s ipse dizit,
that life had few things better to boast than riding in a_post-
chaise—because, if I remember right, ‘ there was motion or
change of place without fatigue ;’ since to these agreeable cir-
cumstances the steam-boat adds the conveniences of a tavern,
of which Johnson was so fond, and the advantage of a bed at
night, without loss of time.

The creek, as we call such waters, or to use the English
phrase, the river, winds round broken crags,"shagged with fir-
trees, for many miles, before it becomes more than just wide
enough for the steam-boats to veer round in. Yet in a gloomy
cove, near the harbour, sufficient space has been found to
moor the five or six sloops of war that were taken from Com-
modore Downie upon this lake.

Toward evening we entered Champlain Proper. The lake
gradually eideued to an expanse of fifteen or twenty miles,
and the sun set, gloriously, behind golden clouds, and moun-
tains of azure blue, whose waving outline, at an elevated
height, was finely contrasted by the dark stripe of pines and
firs, that here lines the unvarying level of the western shore.

The solemnity of the scene was heightened with indistinct
ideas of Burgoyne’s disastrous descent in 1777— of the melan-
choly fate of the first Lord Howe in the year 1759, and of an-
terior scenes of massacre and horror which rendered the sono-
rous name of Ticonderoga terrific to our peaceful ancestors—
after passing the ruins grey of this dilapidated fortress (the
French called it elegantly Carillon, from the hub-bub usually
kept up there in time of war) and those of Crown Point (called
by them Fort la Chevelure, or the scalping place) a barbarous
denomination which the English melted down into Crown
Point, still indicative of the same savage practice.

I awoke in the night under these solemn recollections; and
the morning-star was shining in, with perceptible reflection,
at the little window of my birth. It is now peculiarly bril-

Voyaces and Travers, No. 2. Vol. III,

to amidst the incessant occupations of domestic care, force

10 Travels in Lower Canada.

liant, and I was forcibly impressed with a sense of God’s pro-

vidence, for the benefit of his creature man, especially when les:
travelling upon the waters, when his journeys must be pursued cor
vy night as well as by day. tov

And here let me observe, that, during travel, the spirits are
renewed, as well as the body invigorated. The energies of to |
the mind, so often latent, through inactivity, are called into fac
action, by dangers and difficulties, which it requires unremit- has
ting watchfulness to steer through or to shun; and the habi- the
tual inattention under which, safe within the walls of cities, les:
an accustomed face is beheld without notice, and a next-door It |
neighbour passes by unknown, is necessarily exchanged for up
the active exercise of observation and inquiry. of

In another point of view too, occasional journey, especially per
into foreign countries, creating a total change of scene and Suc
habits, may be said to lengthen the sense of existence, if they rea

do not actually prolong life. So many changes of habit occur,
and such a variety of unusual circumstances takes place, that
the recollection of a few months, passed abroad, seems equal,

in the memory, to the lapse of years spent in the unvarying :
monotony of home. i
The sublime operations of nature, which are rarely attended the

: A cal
themselves upon a traveller’s observation, disengaged as he is lea
from the daily concerns of common life-—He now feels his the
dependance upon the varying atmosphere, and remarks, per- rae
haps for the first time, the subservience of the celestial lu- a
minaries to the occasions of life.

, . mo
When the moon rises to illuminate his path, as the sun sets ee
in the west, which it does with such evident co-operation, te

whenever the moon is at full, he can hardly fail to be touched
with admiration and gratitude at the splendid provision of
which he stands so much in need.—He can but feel, with con-
se elevation, the dignity of his being, as a creature of God,
when

Seas roll to waft him, suns to light him rise ;
His footstool earth, bis canopy the skies.

Yet is there ample occasion, on the face of nature, for hum-
bling considerations of the littleness of man, and all his
works, in comparison of the wide spread surface of the planet
we inhabit. Inadequate must needs be the ideas of a man
who, confined for life within the streets of cities, has never
seen an extensive horizon, or beheld those majestic features of
the earth, a mountain, or a lake-—-no man that has hot tra-
velled a day’s journey on foot, nor ever lost his way in track-

od’s pro-
lly when
e pursued

spirits are
hergies of
lled into
unremit-
he habi-
of cities,
next-door
nged for

especially
cene and
e, if they
bit occur,
lace, that
ms equal,
invarying:

r attended
ire, force
d as he is

feels his
rks, per-
estial lu-

2 sun sets
operation,
e touched
vision of
with con-

‘e of God,

for hum-
1 all his
he planet
of a man
las never
eatures of
hot tra-
in track-

Lake Champlain. Il

less wilds, when spent with hunger and fatigue, can have a
competent idea of the spaces that intervene between town and
town, sometimes between one human habitation and another.

We must have seen a good deal of the globe we inhabit
to form a just notion of the overwhelming extent of its sur-
face, in proportion to the pigmy race, to whom animal nature
has been subjected, by the Creator of all things. And, after all,
the imagination is unavoidably confounded, amidst the bound-
less sands which occupy the internal parts of Africa and Asia,
It has often revived my own humility to span their extent
upon the maps in my study. And when I compare the desert
of Zaarah, for instance, with the island of Great Britain, and
perceive that in its vacant spaces there would be room for ten
such islands, with all its millions of civilized inhabitants, I am
ready to exclaim, with Job—

Lord! what is man, that thou shouldest sect thine heart upon him ¢
And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,
And try him every moment ?

Having passed Burlington, the capital of Vermont, in the
night, next morning, after breakfast, we were called up to see
the British flag flying at Illinois (Is!e aux Noix as the French
call it) and his majesty’s crown over the @ate-way, at the stairs
leading to the officers’ house, a handsome building, with ra-
ther a fantastic air, from being built of squared logs painted
in alternate stripes of white and grey; green varandas, as light
as gossamer, in the centre and at each end; the whole sur-
mounted with a heavy pediment, and a tinned cupola, the
openings of which are glazed, to make it a comfortable look-
out.

I observed nothing particular in the fortifications at Hlinois ;
but a sweet little cottage struck my eye, as we passed, con-
nected with a string of convenient out-houses, a little gar-
den before them, running to the water’s edge, with covered
seats, of elegant simplicity, in which, in all probability, some
British officer, and the fair companion of his voluntary exile,
indulge their recollection of happier auspices and a forsaken
home.

As we ran by the place, a boat put off to exchange papers,
with three young marines, in Scotch bonnets and trim uni-
forms, to whom our captain threw a rope; but so little dex-
terous were they in managing it, that they had like to have
overset the boat before they reached us. They were, however,
insensible of their danger, and I remember one of them showed
a very fine set of teeth, as he laughed with the byestanders at

his own absurdity.
C2

12 Travels in Lower Canada.

Enough—perhaps too much of Illinois.

By noon we reached St. John’s, of which still less may serve,
and we did but drive through it for La Prairie—a consider-
able town on the St. Lawrence, vine miles aboye Montreal.

The rest of the company, among whom were several ladies
from Carolina, crossed directly over, in a drizzling rain; but I,
being no longer impatient of delay, as this is a considerable
town of long standing, with a large French church, and other
public establishments, stayed over night, and slept, though it
was midsummer, under I know not how many blankets, in a
bed close hung with worsted curtains, in flaming red,

I was now ready to doubt whether it ever was what we call
hot, in Canada; but I had occasion afterward to change my
mind upon that score, as well as some others, as will be seen
in due time. Rapid travellers are apt to be hasty in forming
their conclusions, of which, in course, plodding critics take
notice at their leisure, without making one grain of allowance
for the innumerable perplexities and contrarieties through
which we have to pick our way in the research of truth.

Next morning the sun glittered upon the tinned spires and
plated roofs of Montreal, many of them being sheathed with
sheet-iron. Iwas told that the passage by water was tedious,
and that a waggon would convey me aateh quicker to the ferry
opposite the town. I went on accordingly to Longeuil, and
crossed over from thence, in a canoe, which was managed by
two diminutive Canadians, with Indian paddles.

MONTREAL

shows from the water like an old country sea-port, with long
ranges of high walls and stone houses, overstopped here and
there by churches and convents, with something that resembles
a continued quay, though it is nothing more than a high bank,
to which large vessels can lie close enough for the purposes of
loading and unlvading, in consequence of the unusual depth
of‘water at the very edge of the current, which sets close in-
shore from an opposite island, and astring of rocks and shoals,
which obstruct it on the opposite side.
I took a hasty dinner, glanced at the public buildings which
Y had seen before, and walked the streets till night, when the
pines. avenue, in which is the cathedral, was lighted up,
efore dark, in the English manner, the twilight being almost
as long here as it is there. I then took up my lodging on-
board the steam-boat, for Quebec, which was to sail next morn-
ing at three o’clock; for I had now a mind to see in how short
atime one might make a total change of religion, language,

AY serve,
consider-
Mtreal.

ral ladies
; but I,
siderable
And other
though it
ets, Ina

t we call
ange my
| be seen
formin g
tics take
llowance
through
h.
bires and
hed with
s tedious,
the ferry
euil, and
aged by

ith long
lere and
esembles
¢h bank,
"poses of
ul depth
lose in-
d shoals,

s which
yhen the
ited up,
y almost
ing’ on-
‘¢ morn-
yw short

iguage,

Voyage down the St. Lawrence. 13

government, and climate, in quitting the metropolis of the
United States for that of the British provinces. .

Tt was now but the eighth day from my leaving Philadelphia,
and there was a chance that I might reach Quebec on the
ninth (July 8th,) the current of the St. Lawrence being
often so powerful, that, when the wind favours, this passagre of
170 miles is sometimes made in seventeen hours, in sea-phrase
ten knots an hour, arriving at Quebec, in summer-time, by
sunset the same day.

VOYAGE DOWN THE ST. LAWRENCE.

I was not now in luck, if I may be allowed the phrase, or
to speak with becoming dignity of a voyage upon the St. Law-
rence, the wind was right a-head, and blew strong from the
north-east, with occasional squalls of rain through the da
and the following night ; and I was glad to come oft with two
tedious and wearisome nights, spent at sea, to all usual intents
and purpose, of seafaring life, such as incommodities ‘* ayOty
kind, apprehension of danger, disinclination to stir hand ox
foot, and irremediable delay. But I am anticipating events,
and ought, perhaps, to have kept the reader in that happy state
of suspense under which we usually advance to the most dan-
gerous or disagreeable adventures, without apprehension or
reluctance.

First, then, of the first. After passing the night under an
incessant trampling and rummaging overhead, ue vane
being at work all night, stowing away sagt! galt ms
clearing the decks of luggage, for the steam-boats o t le St.
Lawrence are as much used for the conveyance of freight as
of passengers, I awoke an hour or two after day-light, some
leagues below Montreal. ae ee

The great church of Varennes, with its two steeples, was
distinctly visible, together with the isolated mountain which
rises near Boucherville, in the midst of surrounding plains :
but every other object was at such an immeasurable enane:,
for river scenery, that I was much aE spn: : ne boaste
appearance of towns, and villages, and scattered lam ets, upon
the banks of the St. Lawrence—said to exceed so far, in use
and beauty, the scanty improvements upon the North River.

It is true the occasional spires of the parish-churches would
be necessarily beautiful, if, as they are described i ae
travellers, (fatigued by the repetition of aubstantio a s anc
meeting-houses in the United States,) they were rie Mima
peeping over trees and woods: but the trees are all cut aw ay
round Canadian settlements, and the unvarying: habitations,
stand in endless rows, at equal distances, like so many sentry-

8
ook es ass

14 Travels in Lower Canada.

boxes or soldier's tents, without a tree, or even a fence of any
kind, to shelter them ; instead of being irregularly interspersed,
as with us, among fields and woods, surrounded with every
variety of domestic accommodation, and collected every ten
or twelve miles into hamlets, or trading towns, of which there
are fifteen or twenty upon the North River, whilst there are
but four in the like space upon the River St. Lawrence, in-
cluding Quebec and Montreal.

These circumstances admit of no comparison between the
two rivers, and the improvements on their banks, in point of
interest or effect. Still less with those of the Delaware, from
Trenton to New Castle, where, in less than half the distance,
beside innumerable farm-houses and country-seats, we have
the cities of Trenton, Burlington, Philadelphia, and Wilming-
ton; and the beautiful towns of Bordentown, Bristol, Chester,
and New Castle; together with a like number of inland vil-
lages, in distant’ perspective, literally surrounded with or-
chards and gardens, and frequently ornamented with modest
spires, or rather cupolas ; which are not to be sure so favour-
able to display, half concealed as they are by neighbouring
woods,

Yet this is the only point of view in which any comparison
at all can be supported between the two countries: for it is
only on the banks of its rivers that Canada pretends to any
population, ov improvement, whatever; whereas with us the
cheering

Tract and blest abode of man

is scattered, more or less, over the whole surface of the soil, by
hardy adventurers, who are not afraid to quit their native
hearths in quest of the most distant establishments. And we
have inland-towns little inferior in population to the capital of
Canada.

It is but fair to observe, however, that the mode of settling
upon the River St. Lawrence seems pointed out by nature in
this region of perennial snow. It would have been difficult
for inhabitants, far removed from each other, to have kept their
roads open in winter; and they must have passed the season,
like so many bears sucking: their paws, if they had been sepa-
rated from each other by hills and hollows ; but, in many places,
the banks of this mighty stream would seem to have been
formed, by its waters, into different levels, running parallel
with its course. Upon these levels the first settlers found it
convenient to establish themselves in lines, whose communica-
tion could be readily preserved.

At the island of Kamouraska, some distance below that of

of any
persed,
1 every
ery ten
h there
ere are
ice, in-

een the
roint of
e, from
istance,
re have
ilming-
‘hester,
nd vil-
ith or-
modest
favour-
pouring

parison
” it is
to any
us the

oil, by
native
nd we
bital of

ettling
ure in
ficult
their
Pason,
sepa-
places,
been
rallel
nd it
anica-

vat of

Town of’ William-Henry. 15

New Orleans, the appearance of the neighbouring heights is
said to indicate unequivocally that the bed of the St. Law-
rence was there once at a much higher level than that which
it now occupies, a circumstance which corroborates the pre-
sumption that these ridges have been originally formed by the
ancient current of the river.

THE TOWN OF WILLIAM-HENRY.

We came too, about ten in the morning, at the town of
William-Henry, on the right bank of the River Sorel, which
forms the outlet of Lake Champlain, for the purpose of
taking in wood, of which article there is a very rapid con-
sumption on-board of steam-boats.

As we approached the wharf, all the people in the place
seemed to be taking post at the landing. Among the fore-
most came puffing a good-humoured looking mortal, genteelly
dressed, of that description of bipeds that are said to laugh and
be fat. He is currently known, it seems, by the name of Sir
John Falstaff, and thus, like his prototype, of facetious me-
mory, if he be not witty himself, he is ofttimes the cause of wit
in others.

Sir James Sherbrooke, the governor-general of both the
Canadas, has a seat near this place, where he spends the sum-
mer-months. He is now here, and I think we were told that
Lady Selkirk was there, on a visit, from the dreary confines of
Hudson’s Bay.

This is but a small town, yet here is both a Catholic and a
Protestant church, I entered the former, while the business
of the boat was expediting; and found the aisles crowded
with children, saying their catechism in a style of tedious rota-
tion, which afforded a striking contrast to the compendious
methods of the Lancasterian plan.

At the door I bought of a little girl a penny-worth of mo-
lasses candy, for which I put into her hand two coppers,
saying I did not want any more, and she should have them
both: but so competently had the principle of honesty, or in-
dependence, been impressed upon her memory (under the un-
promising systein above-mentioned,) that she ran after me, with
the odd penny, crying, “ ‘Fenez, monsieur! Voici votre
copper.”*

Bepenky is unknown, I find, in Canada, and thieving is
said to be very rare. I afterwards learned, that it is no un-
common thing for the English imhabitants to receive again,

* Stop, Sir? here’s your penny.

16 Travels in Lower Canada.

from the hands of the father-confessors, money which has been
stolen from them, without their knowledge, carefully lapped
up; with a request to take it again, and ask no questions,

THE LAKE OF ST. PIERRE.

Passing through the Lake, and among the woody Islands of
St. Pierre, the weather being hazy, we almost lost sight of
the main land; and when it again came in view, we were still
tantalized with the perpetual repetition of house after house,
or rather hut after hut (for the log hovels of the habitants,
square hewn and neatly white-washed as they are, even to
the roofs, which are clap-boarded and sometimes thatched
with a species of long grass, which grows on some of these
islands, called ’herbe-au-lieu, or wild grass, are little bigger
than huts,) in which it very frequently happens that two or
three generations of Cansdians pig together, preferring the
pleasures of ease and fellowship to all the advantages of inde-
pendence and exertion. When necessity absolutely obliges a
swarm of them to quit the parent hive, it is not to seek an
establishment where land is cheap, for the future settlement of
themselves and their children, but to sub-divide the original
patrimony, and run up another hovel a few hundred paces dis-
tant, upon the same unvarying line which was traced out by
their remotest ancestors, when they were obliged, above all
things, to consult their safety from the irruptions of the sa-
vages.

THE TOWN OF THREE-RIVERS.

Towards evening we stopped for an hour or two off the
town of Three-Rivers; there being no wharf for vessels to come
too at, although this has been a place of trade more than 170
years ; and it was once the seat of the colonial government—
so indifferent are the Canadian French to matters of mere ac-
commodation. Churches and monasteries are the principal
features of the place, when seen from the water. One of these,
that of the Recollects, is overshadowed by gigantic elms.

There were Indian canoes along shore, this place being yet
frequented by the Aborigines of the north and west, with
‘skins and peltry, which they bring with them many hundreds
of miles; having their whole families on-board of these fragile
conveyances.

Dun night and driving rain drove us below, and the next
morning we were still thirty or forty miles from Quebec;
having narrowly escaped the necessity of coming to anchor,
by the wind’s abating in the night.

During breakfast-time, we passed near the church of St.

== Aan m C8 es ae

is been
lapped

ns.

lands of
sight of
ere still

house,
bitants,
even to
hatched
f these
| bigger
two or
ing the
of inde-
bliges a
seek an
ment of
original
ices dis-
| out by
ove all
the sa-

off the
to come
han 170
hment—
nere ac-
rincipal
bf these,
ms.

eing yet
t, with
indreds
p fragile
he next
duebec ;
anchor,

h of St.

Town of Three-Rivers. 17

Augustine Calvaire, which stand) entirely exposed upon a
naked beach.

The mountains here begin to rise, and produce more inter-

esting scenery; the country in view having before been inva-
riably flat. About nine o’clock we came in sight of the
heights of Abraham on the left, and those of Point Levi on
the right ; between which were fifteen or twenty sail of mer-
chantmen and ships-of-war riding at anchor; the island of
Orleans appearing in the back-ground of this interesting
picture.
. We rapidly passed Wolfe’s Cove, and were brought-too with
admirable dexterity, at a wharf of most inconvenient height;
for the tide rises, in this wild channel, from eighteen to
twenty-four feet.

Here, and for half-a-mile round the precipice, which consists
of a black slate, there is but just room for one narrow street.
The rock is almost perpendicular till near the top; and as you
look up from the water to the stone-wall, which caps the sum-
mit of the hill with projecting bastions, you wonder what pre-

vents the ponderous masses from coming down upon your
head.

GENERAL MONTGOMERY.

In this dismal ditch, where it first became exposed to a
strong battery, which has been since taken down, on the 3lst
day of December, fell General Montgomery, and his aide-de-
camp, M‘Pherson, at the very first fire from the fort; and
their disheartened followers were easily made prisoners, after
a hopeless conflict; the snow being then four feet thick upon
the ground,

Yet I was told, upon the spot, by a Canadian burgher, of
confidential appearance, who said he was in the place at the
time of the attack, that the town might have been taken, by
surprise, if General Arnold had pushed his opportunity, when
he first reached Point Levi, instead of waiting for the com-
mander-in-chief, who was then coming down the St. Lawrence.
In the mean time, the citizens had recovered from the panic
into which they had been thrown by so unexpected an event.
Sir Guy Carleton had thrown himself into the town, and the
favourable moment for the attack was irretrievably lost.—The
unfortunate general was interred by the British commander,
upon one of the hastions of the citadel, with what are called
the honours of war.*

* My informant, an old man, and a native Canadian, had in his youth
been under the Falls of Montmorency, that is to say, within the tremendous
concavity between the rock and the cataract, reverberating with incessant

Voyraces and Travers, Vo. 2. Vol. IIT. D

Travels in Lower Cunada.

ab
QUEBEC.

Almost perpendicularly over the place where Montgomery
fell, on the very brink of the precipice, which is here not less
than two hundred feet high, in lieu of the ancient fort or
chateau of St. Louis, which name, by courtesy of England, it
yet retains, is erected the Government-House, the apartments
of which are occupied by the various offices of the civil and
military departments, acting under the orders of the governor-
scneual of British America; the provinces of New Brunswick
aud Nova Scotia being included under his command. But
his residence is in a convenient building, on the opposite side
of the square.

The ee town, from which we have not yet regularly
ascended, is a dismal congeries of the most wretched buildings,
rising, in darkness visible, amidst every kind of filth, between
the rock and the river; which is said to have washed the very
base of the promontory, when Jacques Cartier first sailed by
the craggy spot. I quitted the narrow confines, with the ala-
crity of a fugitive escaping from the confinement of a prison,
(though here,

In dirt and darkness hundreds stink, content,)

by a long flight of steps, ending in slope after slope; down
which trickles perpetually the superfluous moisture of the
upper town; the streets of which, in wet weather, are rinsed
over the heads of the luckless passenger, by those projecting

ss es session

thunder, and dripping with perpetual spray; and he had often jumped down
into the circular basins, of unusual magnitude, worn in the solid rock, from
whence the name of the river Chaudiere, which now pursues its foaming
course at a distance far bencath these indubitable indications of the anterior
elevation of its waters. ‘They difler in nothing but their size from the well-
known perforations which were observable at the Falls of Schuilkill, before
the progress of improvement had obliterated all remains of those curious
appearances. I embrace this opportunity to record that such things were
within five miles of Philadelphia, that. it may not be atterly forgotten that
such interesting phenomena hat ever existed. Nor can I forbear to put the
question which they suggest,—why may not these aqueous perforations be
as well admitted, to prove that the globe is not of a date exceedingly remote,
(at least in its present form) as the contrary can be inferred from the various
layers of lava round Mount Etna, by the periods of whose decomposition the
Canon Recupero could read the history of the earth, and discover, with un-
misgiving presumption, that

He that made it and revealed its date to Moses,

Was mistaken in its age.

The largest of these perforations, which have any where been observed,
would not have required more time for its production, with the assistance of
cireulating pebbles, than is allowed by the saored historian.

eo ew ot ie

a an oe ee 7 we a!

yomery
not less
fort or
land, it
'tments
vil and
vernor-
nswick
» But

ite side

rularly
lddingss,
etween
le ver

led hy
he ala-
prison,

down
of the
rinsed
ecting

d down
k, from
oaming
anterior
1e Well-

before
curious
rs were
en that
put the
ons be
emote,
various
ion the
ith un-

erved,
nce of

Quebec. 19

spouts which are so common in the antiquated towns of Ger-
many.

The Upper Town, at a height of one hundred and fifty feet,
from which it overlooks the Lower, and shows the shipping so
verpendicularly below, that you think you could toss a biscuit
into them from the ramparts, is completely fortified with walls
and gates, and all the other ineonveniencies of a garrisoned
town; such as sentinels on guard at every avenue, &c. Ke.,
independently of the citadel, which, with its outworks, of consi-
derabla extent, occupies an elevation two hundred feet higher.

The cathedral, and the seminary for the clergy, together
with the Jesuits’ college ol iat now vonverted into a bar-
rack for the troops, who make its once tranquil walls resound
twice a day with the animating sounds of martial music—the
bugle—the fife—and the spirit-stirring drum.—These exten-
sive establishments, all originally devoted to religion, together
with the Hotel Dieu, as it is called, after the name of a similar
institution in Paris, being a hospital for the sick, and the single
sisters who attend them; the monastery of the Recollets, now
taken down, to make room for more useful edifices; and the
convent of the Ursuline nuns, with other religious establish-
meuts, and their courts and gardens, occupied at least one-
half of the ground, within the walls, leaving the streets nar-
row, irregular, and invariably up-hill and down; a circum-
stance which must render them singularly inconvenient in
frost and snow.

Such is the famous city of Quebec, for the acquisition of
which General Wolfe willingly devoted his life, in the
year 1759; the only memento of which circumstance, upon
the spot, is a wooden figure of the celebrated hero, in his
broad-skirted coat, with slashed sleeves, painted red, stand-
ing in a niche, at the corner of a street, in the attitude of
comanding the decisive action which for ever separated
Canada from the dominion of France. It is called St. John-
Street, and it leads to the Gate of St. Louis, whence, through
I know not how many covered ways, protected by a like
number of salient, angles, (I may very probably be incor-
rect in the terms of fortification, never having made the science
of destruction my particular study,) it finally disgorges the
weary passenger, thwarted by recurring obstacles, upon the
open air of the adjacent common.

We are now upon the plains of Abraham; yet the ascent
continues sufficiently to cover the scene of action from the
fire of the batteries, ‘Turning round when you arrive at the
summit, and leoking down the river, between the two steeples

20 Travels in Lower Canada.

of the catholic and protestant cathedrals, you have what I
thought the most interesting view of Quebec, because it em-
braces in the same coup d’eil the principal objects in the
vicinity. Overlooking the basin, which is six miles wide, you
behold the island of Orleans stretched out before you, till it
terminates in undistinguishing haze, whilst on the left you
have the north coast, rising gradually into distant mountains,
from which the river Montmorency, precipitating itself into the
St. Lawrence, is all but seen, through a grove of firs, and the
view terminates abruptly in the perpendicular promontory of
Cape Tourment, which is two thousand feet high, and there-
fore may be distinctly seen at the distance of thirty miles. On
the right you have the rocks of Point Levi, and behold the
shipping in the harbour, at an immense depth below. Imagine
the effect of this whole fairy scene, connected as it is by the
broad surfaces of the river, which is seen again upon the edge
of the horizon, winding round the stupendous bluff above-
mentioned, in its course toward the sea.

The field of battle lies a mile further west.—The eommon
remains bare and uncultivated; and a little to the left of the
road to Montreal, you pzrceive a large stone, near which the
general fell. It may be easily distinguished by the repeated
efforts of British visitors to possess themselves of the minutest
Specimen of this monument of national prowess, to carry
home with them, as relics, on their return to England. It is
a whitish granite, of a finer grain than usual.

This interesting spot has eek devoted to history, not by an
English professor of the fine arts, but by our countryman West,
who considers himself acting patriotically as a British sub-
ject, in celebrating any event which is counted honourable to
the British arms, that had occurred before the revolution,
which established the independence of his country.

The French governor of Quebec, M. de Montcalm, fell like-
wise on the field-of-battle; yet such is the injustice of mankind
to those who seek

——— the bubble honour in the cannon’s mouth,

that the man who died in the defence of his country is never
mentioned with applause, because unsuccessful, whilst the
victorious invader of a foreign shore is puffed to the skies by
the meretricious trumpet of Fame.

I sat up my head-quarters, to adopt the military phraseology
that prevails here, at the Union Hotel, in the Place d’Armes or
Parade, intending from hence to make excursions into the
country at my leisure. Malhiot’s Hotel, in St. John’s-Street,
is said to be the best house of entertainment at Quebec; but

= ha

— — a |

re what I
ise it em-
ts in the
wide, you
rou, till it
e left you
nountains,
If into the
s, and the
nontory of
and there-
niles. On
echold the

Imagine
tis by the
n the edge
uff above-

e common
left of the
which the
e repeated
le minutest
» to carry
nd. It is

, not by an
man West,
ritish sub-
hourable to
revolution,

, fell like-

of mankind

y is never
hilst the
e skies by

raseology
1’ Armes or
s into the
n’s-Street,
ebec; but

Quebec. 21

I generally find the second best, in this case, best suited to the
indulgence of my desultory habits.

At this place I met daily at dinner, while in town, a shrewd
English agent or commissary, a man of mature age, univer-
sal information, and a cold, calculating temperament, and a
young Canadian from the country, who was studying law at
Quebec. The cool-headed Englishman occupied the head of
the table, with the strictest observance of the customary forms
of politeness ; but, amidst the reciprocation of formal civilities,
took care to maintain a prudent reserve; but the vivacious
Frenchman attached himself to me immediately, with the most
engaging frankness. This is not the first time I have had occa-
sion to remark the mutual attraction and repulsion which takes
place between total strangers, on sitting down together, for the
first time, at a public table; nor yet to observe the preference
which the French every where discover for the American cha-
racter. It was as good as a passport when I was last in France ;
and an application under that name was respected by sentinels
on guard, when permission was generally refused to others.
“ Vous étes Americain! Entrez, Monsieur,”’* and command-
ants, who received me with all the sternness of official autho-
rity, have softened their manner as soon as I called myself an
American.

I thought my young friend an Englishman, so well did he
speak the language; and I afterward understood that he had
renounced the French from his childhood, and now spoke it
so ill, that he declined conversing in it, even when he learned
that I spoke French myself.

In the perpetual ebullitions of his vivacity, he put me to the
question a great deal more than is agreeable to me, but I
could not find in my heart to discountenance his volubility, or
discourage his wish to be serviceable to me in the objects of
my pursuit.

Accordingly, when I left Quebec, I was furnished by him
with a list of the post-houses on the road, accompanied by
notes of the inns, and other information, highly useful to a tra-
veller by land. But this was not enough to satisfy his assi-
duity; 1 must have letiers of recommendation to no less than
four gentlemen of his acquaintance, in the different towns I
should pass through, though I professed, with my usual blunt-
ness, very little expectation of delivering any of them. And
there was one to his grandmother at Machiché. But I will not
anticipate the amusing visit to which this afterward gave rise.

I recollected some of the sprightly sallies of Monsieur Gugy,

* Are youan American? Walk in, Sir.

22 Travels in Lower Canada.

with the intention of putting them upon paper; but so much
of the effect of that volatile spirit

Whence lively wit excites to gay surprise,

unavoidably evaporates in repetition ; and so much of its pun-
gency depends upon attending circumstances, which cannot be
conveyed by the pen, that I shall not risk the attempt, lest it
should discredit the convivial powers of my young friend,
whose esteem I should be very unwilling to forfeit.

One retort, however, which took place when the cloth was
removed, between the two ends of the table, was national, and
I shall therefore preserve it. The sober Englishman was asked
to mention a historical subject upon which the student might
exercise his talents for composition during tbe recess. He
proposed “ the rise and progress of the most extensive colony
upon the globe.”—“ Not Botany Bay, sure,” said I.—* No,
no,” interrupted Monsieur, “ it shall be the decline and fall
of Quebec.”

On another occasion the American revolution being in ques-
tion, the cause was on all hands allowed to be just. ‘“ Nay,”
said they, “the British government itself has virtually ac-
knowledged it, in granting, by act of parliament, to the Ca-
nadian provinces, the only privilege which the leading pa-
triots at one time contended for, that of not being taxed with-
out their own consent.”

My young friend would gladly have accompanied me to the
religious houses; but to such places I always choose to go by
myself. One of my earliest visitations was to

THE HOTEL DIEU,

where a superieure and twenty-seven sisters take care of the
sick poor of both sexes, who are lodged in separate wards, and
furnished by them with every thing necessary. The sisters,
however, having a good deal of leisure on their hands, being
themselves almost as numerous as their patients, employ or
amuse themselves in making ornaments for altars, and em-
broidering with fruit and flowers a variety of trinkets, such as
pocket-books and work-bags, which visitors take home with
them for presents to children, or mementos of their journey :
they are made of thin, smooth, and pliable bark of a tree,
which is common here (the French call it Boulotte ;) it will
bear writing on as well as paper, the ink not spreading in the
least. I brought away a specimen of it from the falls of Mont-
morency, which I intend to present to Peale’s museum.

T introduced myself to one of the nuns whom I met in the
passage, (she was dressed in white linen, very coarse, with a

i

bla
up o
66
win
pou
to g
are
witl

not
tion
pub

I
buil
dA
hos
stit
larg
agai
hun}
St.

T
the «
a fe
abou
naut
Phil
Lou
rami
ried
den
vent
nier

Moi

and |
latel
bishe
child

so much

f its pun-
cannot be
pt, lest it
g friend,

cloth was
ional, and
was asked
ent might
cess. He
ve colony
I.—* No,
2 and fall

g in ques-
6 Nay,”
tually ac-
to the Ca-
ading pa-
axed with-

me to the
e to go by

are of the
wards, and
he sisters,
ds, being
pmploy or
and em-
, such as
ome with
journey :
of a tree,
ps) it will
ing in the
of Mont-
im.

et in the
se, with a

Quebee. 23

black veil, pinned close across the forehead, and thrown back
upon the shoulders,) by asking permission to see their chapel.
—“ Asseyez vous, Monsieur, un petit moment.”* There was a
window seat at hand. ‘ Je vais chercher une de mes Sceurs,
pour nous accompagner.”t It seems they are never allowed
to go any where without a companion, which is the reason they
are always seen abroad in pairs. She returned immediately
with another sister, who saluted me with apparent pleasure.

They introduced me to the door of the chapel, but went
not in themselves; the sisters having a private place of devo-
tion appropriated to them along-side, they never enter the
public chapel when it is frequented by others.

I soon returned to them, finding nothing interesting in the
building, though it seems it was founded in 1638, by the Duchess
d’Aiguillon, who sent over three nuns of this order from the
hospital at Dieppe, on the establishment of this charitable in-
stitution. It contains but two pictures worth attention. They are
large pieces, without frames, by good French masters, leaning’
against the walls of the side chapels, as if they had never been
hung up. The subjects I remember were the Visitation of
St. Elizabeth, and the dispute with the doctors of the law.

The two sisters had waited for me in the sacristy behind
the chapel ; they seemed gladly to embrace the opportunity for
a few minutes conversation with a stranger. I was curious
about their regulations. “ Vous n’avez donc pas de commu-
nauté chez vous Monsieur.”t We had not any. I was from
Philadelphia. ‘ Cependant,” said one of them, “ on ena Ia
Louisiane. Mais ce ne’est pas siloin. Voila la raison appa-
ramment.Ӥ Did they permit women who had once been mar-
ried to take the veil? “ Oui Monsieur, si elles n’ont point
d’enfans. Cela pourroit les distraire. Et d’ailleurs elles doi-
vent plutét s’occuper 4 élever leurs enfans.—I] y avoit der-
niérement Madame une telle qui vouloit faire profession : Mais
Monseigneur I’Evéque a dit qu’il étoit plutét de son devoir
d‘élever ses enfans, que de soigner les malades.”|| Having
once entered the house, were they obliged to perpetual resi-

* Sit down one minute, sir.

+ Iam going for one of my sisters to accompany us.

{ Have you no communities in your country, sir?

§ Yet they have them in Louisiana; but that is not so far. ‘That must be
the reason.

|| Yes, sir, if they have no children, that might divide their affections ;
and beside, they are bound in duty to bring up their children. It is but
lately that Madame Such-a-one wanted to enter the house ; but my lord-
bishop told her that it was rather her business to see to the education of her
children than to take care of the sick.

i
t
$
i

24 Travels in Lower Canada.

dence ?—“ Apres un an et demi de profession l’on ne pett
plus sortir, jusques la il est permis de se retirer (laughing)
combien y a t-il de gens mariés, Monsieur, qui voudroient
bien renoncer au mariage, si cela se pouvoit, aprés un an et
demi de noviciat ?’*—Assuredly, said I, a great many.—But
I took the vow of matrimony twenty years ago, and have never
had occasion to repent my obligation.

THE CATHEDRAL OF QUEBEC,

I next went to see the cathedral, which is a plain rough
building on the outside, with a handsome steeple, as usual co-
vered with tin. It is erected on one side of the great door.
Within, this church has much of the imposing effect of Eu-
ropean cathedrals, arising from great length and lofty height.

I was struck with the rich carved wainscot of the choir,
much in the style of that of Notre Dame at Paris. Over it four
Corinthian columns support an arch in scroll-work. Upon this
rests the globe, on which stands a figure of the Redeemer, in
the attitude of benediction, holding in his left ‘hand, or rather
leaning upon a ponderous cross, rays of glory emanating from
the body on all sides. This part is painted white, and the
whole work is admirable, both in design and execution, as well
as the open work of the bishop’s throne, and the stalls for the
canons; but the sculptured pulpit, and the statues in the choir,
are painted and gilded in a gaudy style unworthy of notice
or description.

The Sacristan now accosted me, observing my peculiar cu-
riosity. He was a hard-headed veteran of the church, with
all his features settled into that imperturbable insensibility,
which is naturally contracted by beholding, without interest
or regard, the perpetual flux and reflux of the tide of human
life at the doors of a Catholic cathedral, where every period of
existence, from the cradle to the grave, is in continual rotation.

I had myself seen that morning the different ceremonies of
a christening and a burial; nothing was wanting but a mar-
riage to complete the whole history of life; and that, I am
told, often takes place contemporaneously also.

T asked him whether the church was not a hundred and
fifty feet long? He said it was one hundred and eighty-six.
He had measured it himself. It is ninety wide, and the mid-

* After a year and a half of trial they are no longer permitted to with-
draw. Until then they are at liberty to do so. How many married people
are there who would gladly renounce matrimony, after the experience of a
year and a half?

on ne peut
(laughing)
voudroient
; un an et
any.—But
have never

lain rough
s usual co-
rreat door.
ect of Eu-
fty height.
the choir,
ver it four
Upon this
deemer, in
l, or rather
ating from
te, and the
ion, as well
alls for the
the choir,
of notice

\

eculiar cu-
urch, with
sensibility,
ut interest
b of human
y period of
al rotation.
epmonies of
but a mar-
hat, I am

ndred and
eighty-six.
d the mid-

ted to with-
arried people
berience of a

Quebec. 25

dle aisle, which is divided from the side aisles by massy ar-
cades, is at least sixty high.

In what year, said I, was the church erected ?—“< Mon.
sieur, il y a environ cent cinquante ans. Je ne saurois vous
dire le jour méme.”* But the carved work in the choir is not
of that age, (it is of some rich wood not yet much darkened by
time). “ Cest que l’Eglise a eté brulée il ya environ cinquante
ans.”’t The pulpit, said I, was probably saved from the
wreck, (it is of gothic construction, and grossly painted in
colours.) “ Non, Monsieur, Rien ne fut sauvé tout est 4 neuf.”
Was the beautiful carved work of the choir made in this
country # “Qui, Monsieur, ¢’a été fait par un de nos propres
Canadiens, qui a fait le voyage de France exprés pour s’en
rendre capable.Ӥ Was that Lewis XIII. or Lewis X1V.
that atood on the right hand of the altar? (a marshal of
France, perhaps Montmorenci, on the opposite side.) “ Non,
Monsieur, ce nest ni l’un ni autre. C’est—C’est— Le Louis
des Croisades.”|| It is then Louis IX. or St. Lewis, said I.—
“ Eh oui, oui, Monsieur, vous avez raison. Mais comment
l’avez vous reconnu pour étre roi?” By the crown and scep-
tre. “Oh! bin,”** said the old sexton, [who appeared to have;
till that moment, overlooked his kingship, and considered the
canonized Lewis as nothing more than one of the saints of the
choir, it being not uncommon to crown the figures of saints
in catholic churches.) “ Les autres d’alentour,” continued
he, “ sont St. Pierre, St. Paul, St. - He could not recol-
lect the name of the third—it was the marshal of France,
St. . Vous sentez bien que nous ne les croyons pas les
veritables saints mémes; mais seulement leurs representants.” tf
O yes, yes, I understand it.

THE CHAPEL OF THE URSULINES,

Next morning I went to the chapel of the Ursulines, in the
expectation of seeing the nuns at their devotions; but in that
I was disappointed. An old priest was saying mass at a mag-

* Sir, it is about one hundred and fifty years old. I cannot tell you to the
very day.

+ No, for the church was entirely burnt down about fifty years ago.

{ No, Sir, nothing was saved; every thing is new.

§ Yes, Sir, it was made by one of our Canadians, who went over to
France on purpose to qualify himself for the work.

|| No, Sir, it is neither of them. It is—It is—the Louis of the Crusades,

{| Yes, yes, Sir; you are right.— But how did you know him to be a king?

** O! true.

+t The others round are St. Peter, St. Paul, St. ——. You understand
that we do not take them to be the very saints themselves, but only their re-
presentatives,

Voyages and Travets, No, 2. Vol. ILD. E

26 Travels in Lower Canada.

nificent altar, the tabernacle uncommonly splendid, Corin-
thian columns, gilded statues, a bishop on one side, and a
queen on the other, (probably Ann of Austria, the mother of
Lewis XIV. as this institution was founded in 1639,) St. Jo-
seph with the child in his arms over head ; seraphs are reclin-
ing in the angles of the pediment, and cherubs spread their
wings above and below the niches ; bas-reliefs of apostles and
evangelists, with their appropriate emblems, occupying the
pannels of the pedestals. All this in the finest syle of the
age of Lewis XIV. both sculpture and architecture.

This rich chapel may be eighty feet long, forty wide, and
forty high. It is now dark with age, though it has always
been neatly kept, by the piety of the nuns, and has therefore
suffered nothing else from time.

On the left isa side chapel hung with Gobelin tapestry,
(probably a royal present, as Lewis XIV. kept that manufac-
tory in his own hands for such purposes.) On the right is a
large arched grate, with a black curtain drawn behind it,
through which the nuns were occasionally heard hemming and

coughing ; for this was asilent mass. I now despaired of see-

ing the particular objects of my curiosity; but presently the
curtains were drawn from within, and discovered the nuns
kneeling, in their black dresses, with white neckerchiefs. This
was at the moment of the elevation of the host; and no
sooner was it over than the curtains were closed again, and the
slender audience seemed to be left behind, to receive the
“ Dominus vobiscum,”* and coldly respond “ Amen.”

The paintings in this elegant chapel are chiefly unmeaning
representations of celebrated sisters of the order, in attitudes
of adoration or beatification, on their knees, or in the clouds.
There is, however, upon these venerable walls, a historical
representation of the Genius of France, just landed upon the
shores of Canada, from a European vessel, which is seen
moored to the rocks. She is pointing to the standard of the
cross at the mast-head, and offering, with the other hand, to a
female savage, the benefits of religious instruction, which she
receives upon her knees. Wigwams, children, &c. are seen in
the back ground.

This conventual institution, probably the most strict in
North America, short of the vice-royalty of Mexico, owes its
rise to the piety and self-denial of a rich young widsw. who,
devoting herself to religion upon the death of her busband,
ae Quebec for her retreat, as a place of seclusion from the
world.

* The Lord be with you.

tire
ab
ex}

asp
|
pla
orik
the
wil
The
of ¢
|
hig)
ofa
eacl
(if
Idi
env
dity
is re
is, 3
heay
pare
I
here
plac
saw
I
tend
some

, Corin-
, and a
other of

St. Jo-
e reclin-
ud their
tles and
ring the
» of the

ide, and
always
herefore

tapestry,
nanufac-
rht is a
shind it,
ning and
d of see-
ntly the
he nuns
fs. This
and no
and the
eive the
’

neaning
ttitudes
b clouds.
istorical
pon the
is seen
d of the
nd, toa
ich she
seen In

strict in
lowes its
Ww. who,
usband,
rom the

Quebec. 27

THE GENERAL HOSPITAL AND THE WHITE NUNS.

The General Hospital, which is beautifully located, in a re-
tired situation, on the banks of the little river St. Charles,
about a mile westward of the town, now only remained to be
explored.

I walked that way one evening, when all nature wears an
aspect of tranquillity, and invites to meditation or repose.

It is the most regular of all the religious edifices of this
place, and remains, without alteration or addition, as it was
originally founded by its beneficent patron, M. de St. Vallier,
the second bishop of Quebec, who endowed it, I believe by
will, in the year 1693, for the relief of the aged and infirm.
They are attended by thirty-seven sisters, under the direction
of a Superieure, or Lady Abbess.

This extensive building forms a hollow square, two stories
high; and the front, next the town, has a venerable appearance
of antiquity, with its high pitched roof, and broad portals at
each end, under the protection of St. Joseph and the Virgin,
(if T remember may in their respective niches, Fortunately
1 did not enter it at this time, but sauntered about the lonely
environs of the place, thinking upon the melancholy absur-
dity of those human inventions and traditions, by which God
is robbed of his honour, so to speak, and his son Jesus Christ,
is, at it were, superseded by Joseph and Mary, as if the
heaven-born Saviour were yet under the tutelage of earthly
parents.

I say fortunately, because this circumstance brought me
here a second time, but a few minutes before a procession took
place, which was the most impressive thing of the kind I ever
saw in Canada.

I had passed through the lower ward, into the chapel, at-
tended by one of the patients, who told me on my giving him
something ‘to discharge him,’ that there was going to be a
procession of the nuns. that afternoon, agreeably to the rules
of the founder, which enjoin, it seems, the formal visitation of
the altars in the respective wards, to be performed by the sis-
terhood, in full habit, at certain set times in every month,

I bade him bring me word when the procession was coming,
and applied myself to the perusal of two broad tablets upon
the walls, which narrated, in French verse, the style and title,
the talents and the virtues, of Jean Bapriste Le Cueva-
LIER DE St. VALLIER, who had been forty-two years bisho
of Quebec, when he founded, this beneficent institution, and
was here interred at the foot of the altar.

I had not near finished the verses, which had no particular

E 2

28 Travels in Lower Canada.

merits of their own to recommend them, when my attendant
returned in haste to tell me, that the procession was forming.
As I re-entered the ward at the upper end, the sisterhood were
coming in at the other. They were preceded by a lay-sister,
bearing a silver crucifix. She was evidently in her noviciate,
having only the white veil, which was pinned across her fore-
head, and fell loose upon her shoulders. The rest had all
black veils of the same description; but the dress of all of
them was white, with large open flannel sleeves, a small cross
depending from the neck.

The cross-bearer was the handsomest woman, or rather, she
was the only handsome woman I had seen in Canada—very
fair, but tall, without colour; and her unusual height was set
off to advantage by the little girls that carried lighted tapers
on either side of her. But there was something, even in her
downcast eyes, which failed to convince me that the fair pro-
selyte had voluntarily drawn the lot of a recluse. They all
three took their station on one side, directly opposite to where
I stood, while the superior, between two sisters, bearing with
both hands a ponderous image of the Virgin, approached the
altar; and, kneeling down before it, was imitated by all the
sisterhood, as they followed her in pairs.

They remained for same minutes in this uneasy attitude,
singing aloud,

Virgo piissima! Ora pro nobis !

Mater dolorissima! Ora pro nobis! &c. &c.*
the Catholic spectators on their knees responding with zealous
vociferation,

Domine exaudi nos! +

THE LEGISLATURE OF CANADA,

The legislature of Canada holds its sittings in what was
once the bishop’s-palace, a building which has been long al-
lowed to be applied to other uses by the now humble bishons
of the see, who are content to reside in the seminary among
their clergy; and the old chapel has been handsomely fitted
up by government for the accommodation of the legislature.

I walked into it one day with permission from one of their
secretaries, who was writing in the anti-chamber,

The speaker sits, as at St. Stephen’s, in a high-backed chair,
at the upper end of the room, surmounted by his majesty’s

* Most pious virgin! Pray for us. Most painful mother! Pray for us.
+ Lord, we beseech thee to hear us, Or, as it stands in our Protestant
Liturgy, Good Lord, we beseech thee to hear us.

— ap oy

a a>

attendant
forming.
ood were
ay-sister,
Oviciate,
her fore-
t had all
of all of
all cross

ther, she
a—very
t was set
pd tapers
bn in her
fair pro-

hey all
to where
ing with
ched the
y all the

attitude,

1 zealous

yhat was
long al-
bishove
among
iy fitted
slature.
of their

ed chair,

lajesty’s

for us.
Protestant

The Falls of Montmorency_. 29

arms. The members sit upon benches, without desks. It will
be recollected that our delegates in congress occupy armed
chairs, and every member is provided with a desk. Which
arrangement is best adapted to the various purposes of discus-
sion and deliberation, I shall not venture to opine; as it is
evidently one of those questions upon which much may be
said on both sides.

The proceedings in this miniature parliament, for so it is
called, take place in both languages; though I perceived by
the names of the actual members, which hung up in the lobby,
that few of the representatives are now French.

The debates are said to be sometimes very animated ; but
they are more frequently personal than political: The crown
having a veto upon all their proceedings.

After various changes in the system of government had been
adopted and rejected, in the vain expectation of reconciling
the customs of France with the laws and usages of England,
in the year 1792, all the benefits of the British constitution
were extended to this part of the empire ; and the province of
Canada was divided into two separate governments; a legis-
lative council and assembly being allotted to each. But both
of them were placed, together with the lower provinces of
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, under the controul of the
same governor-general.

PEDESTRIAN EXCURSION TO THE FALLS OF MONTMORENCY.

My curiosity being now nearly satisfied at Quebec, I sat out
by myself on a pedestrian excursion to the Falls of Montmo-
rency, about eight miles north-east of that city.

On crossing the river St. Charles, I found myself in a
muddy plain, or bottom of black mould, mixed with sand ;
through which I with difficulty picked my steps for a mile or
two; after which the rising ground became stony and rough. :

On the left I passed two or three large old French mansion-
houses, very long in front, but shallow. They wore the ap-
pearance of desertion and decay; but the church of Beauport
on the right, with its two steeples and a comfortable college
for the priests, looked in good repair. I envied them nothing,
however, but a small grove of trees on a projecting knowl,
through which they had laid out a gravel walk. It terminated
at an oaken table, with seats for study or reflection; from
which tranquil spot the fathers could see Quebec, without any
intervening object, but the majestic river and the shipping in
the harbour.

About noon T reached the river Montmorency, which is
crossed by a bridge_a little above the fall. Having overlooked

30 Travels in Lower Canada.

the foaming torrent from a grove of firs (the French call them
elegantly pinettes,) I crossed the bridge and dined, or rather
would have dined, at a smal!l inn on the other side; but I
found the brown bread was totally unpalatable to my pam-
pered appetite, and nothing else but eggs were to be had.

A quiet nap, however, refreshed me—I forgot the want of
dinner; and, in the afternoon, IT went round the hill, on the
lower side of the falls. T saw them on the way to much better
advantage than before, pouring, in an unbroken sheet of foam,
info the abyss below; and, descending to the beach, I ap-
proached the thundering cataract near enough to be sprinkled
with the spray; and to satisfy myself that the height of this
celebrated fall has been much over-rated. It does not in rea-
lity exceed, if it even equals, the gigantic falls of Niagara, in
the smallest of their dimensions, 1 mean that of height.

Heriot calls it 246 feet, which is about 100 feet beyond the
truth ; and yet he must have viewed it with attention, as he
gives a beautiful view of Montmorency.

The bank over which it rolls consists of a lime-slate, in ho-
rizoutal strata, of various thicknesses, connected together by
occasional veins of fibrous gypsum.

The rocks of Montmorency have received little injury, or
rather impression, from the course of the water; which does not
appear to have receded many feet from what must have been
its pristine situation, at the period of Noah’s flood—perhaps
long before: for 1am one of those geologists who, with Pro-
fessor Cuvier, of the French Institute, do nos believe that the
face of the earth was much, if at all, materiaily changed at
the time of the deluge; the waters of which might rise to the
height mentioned in scripture, and withdraw their covering
without leaving any more permanent marks of their irruption
than the mud and slime which they would naturally deposit.

It falls upon a flat rock, which bears no marks below the
present basin of having ever been more worn by the waters
than it is at present; and the adjoining banks are within a few
hundred feet of the great river, to which they descend almost
perpendicularly.

These circumstances disprove the fond presumption, so
lightly adopted by Schultz and others, that the cataract of
Niagara, which now pours over a perpendicular wall of simi-
lar rocks (as no doubt it has done from the beginning, and
will continue to do to the end of time) has receded from a dis-
tance of, I forget how many miles below, wearing away the
solid rock, at the rate of so many inches in a year.

This groundless hypothesis is accompanied with sage calcu-
lations of how nearly this prodigious wear and tear can be

all them
wr rather
3; but I
ny pam-
had.
want of
, on the
h better
of foam,
1, I ap-
orinkled
of this
tin rea-
vara, in
t.
ond the
1, as he

» in hoe

ther by

jury, or
Joes not
e been
erhaps
th Pro-
hat the
bored at
p to the
pvering
ruption
posit.
ow the
waters
1a few
almost

on, sO
ract of
f simi-
ry, and
a dis-

ty the

alcu-
an be

The Falls of’ Montmorency. mf

kept within the limits of the Mosaic chronology; and |...
much more time—looking forward with fearful expectatinvs,
will be sufficient to wear through the remaining bed of the
river, and let out the waters of Lake Erie, to Aelia the sub-
jacent plains !*

A truce to speculation—let us return to acknowledged rea-
lities.

By going round the mouth of the river, and ranging the flat
rock, which forms its level bottom, I got within the influence
of the spray; and, turning from the sun, was gratified with the
aérial splendours of a circular rainbow, which formed around
me a perfect ring, or halo, of the prismatic colours.

IT now followed the course of the beach down the shore of the
St. Lawrence, as far as the little church of Ange Gardien, (not
less than three miles) and was by that time weary enough to
have accepted a humble lodging in one of the neighbouring
cots; but I did not feel inclined to solicit admittance, while I
could possibly command accommodation at an inn.

I therefore stopped at a house to inquire the road, where an
old woman and her daughter were weaving in a large room,
which apparently answered all their purposes, as there were
several beds in it. Whilst I was taking her directions, the
priest of the puees came in with that peculiar air of uncon-
cern, approaching to apathy, which is so observable among the

* The rocks of Montmorency afford ample confirmation of the compara-
tively recent date of the present state of things, according to the Mosaic
Chronology ; as it is evident from the proximity, or rather juxta-position of
this cataract to the river st. Lawrence, into which it falls almost perpendi-
eularly, in connexion with the unworn surface of the flat rock on which it
it falls, (every where but at the existing basin) that these waters could not
have continued so to fall for any very long period of time, without having
worn away the rocks cver which they pour, in a much greater degree than
they have yet done,

I consider these falls as affording palpable proof of Professor Cuvier’s opi-
nion in his Theory of the Earth, “ That, by a careful examination of what
has taken place, on the surface of the globe, since it has been laid dry for
the last time, and its continents have assummed their present form, (for the
learned Professor traces the formation of the rocks and mountains, through
gradual and successive changes, both of composition and position, at lcast
in such parts as are somewhat elevated above the level of the ocean) it may
be clearly seen, that this last revolution, and consequently the establish-
ment of our existing societies (in other words, the creation of the human race)
cannot have been very remote. Accordingly, it is obvious to remark, that among
the bones (of animals) found in a fossil state, those of the human species have
never yet been discovered.” Several of those specimens, which had passced
for remains of that kind, Cuvier examined with attention, and that able
naturalist declares, that not a single fragment among them had ever belonged
to a human skeleton, +

4
(7 , Pao GF Mae oe
aA fmt o, Fam /
» : J:
y
y aw
eee ae * s Ag
evi
, ao ¢
a ~
/1 X
ae . P Pa aad
“ )
a. ¥ AY v
ps 1% J PILI ELAS

32 Travels in Lower Canada.

clergy in Canada. Upon the priest’s sitting down, the good
woman laid aside her shuttle, and brought in a mug of beer;
which she set between us, with rustic civility—not offering it
to either. His reverence was not inquisitive, and I was not
loquacious under the fatigues of my journey ; so I soon rose,
aid took my leave. I have since regretted that I had not
taken the opportunity of some professional information ; but
one has always something to regret ; and

The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing,

There was no tavern, he said, for two leagues; but there were
good houses upon the road; and they were accustomed to ex-
ercise hospitality. ‘That is to say, in this country they would
receive travellers, and take pay for their eutertainment. Hos-
pitality implies, in Canada, nothing like the disinterested kind-
ness of the Quakers in Peunsylvania, which has been lately
sketched with such glaring colours in Galt’s Life of West;
nor yet does it indicate the liberal welcome of the getleman
farmer of Maryland, or Virginia, to whom the company of an
intelligent stranger is such an acceptable treat in those iso-
lated situations, that he is recommended from house to house
by way of conferring a favour; and he may live among the
neighbouring gentry, at free cost, as long as he chooses,

I continued my progress by cottages and hamlets, mills and
water-falls, till I came at last within ken of the expected place
of repose ; but its wretched appearance so disheartened me,
after walking fifteen miles in expectation of a piece of shelter,
that T had, at last, a great mind to have begged a night’s lodg-
ing in the neighbourhood. I actually knocked at one door
for that purpose; but the people within answered as if they
had retired to rest, (it was now between nine and ten o’clock)

and I reconciled myself as well as I could to the brawling of

watermen, who were to put off as soon as the tide served,
which would be some time before midnight, for Quebec, The
landlady (one of the coarsest women I have ever seen) had
some tolerable wine, as it happened, so I had a pint of it, and
declined having any thing else for supper. I threw myself, in
my clothes, upon the wretched bed that was made for me;
and next morning I turned out as early as possible, after swal-
lowing a cuuple of raw eggs, the only eatable I could stomach
in this squalid abode.

The peasants of Canada have got the disagreable habit, so
common in Europe, of never telling their price. Ce que vous
voulez, Monsieur, (What you please, Sir,) is the universal an-
swer, even at professed inns, in unfrequented places. But I
must say they never asked me for more than I gave them,

he good
of beer;
fering: it
was not
oon rose,
had not
ion; but

ing.

ere were
pd to ex-
ry would
it. Hos-
ed kind-
en lately
of West;
retleman
ny of an
hose iso-
to house
iong the
es.

nills and
ed place
ned me,
f shelter,
it’s lodg-
yne door
| if they
o'clock)

wling of

served,
ec. The
en) had
f it, and
self, in
for me;
fer swal-
stomach

abit, so
jue vous
rsal an-

But I
e them,

The Falls. of Montmorency. 33

whatever it was; and they always appeared to be perfectly
satisfied.

Yet there are no beggars in Canada, any more than in the
United States, The stranger is no where importuned for
money, or @isgusted by the shameless display of natural or
acquired deformity, with which European roads and cities uni-
versally abound. Whilst I was at Montreal, a street beggar
arrived frowy Europe. Upon taking his stand in the ab ic
square, he was soon noticed by the police, and clapped up in
a place of confinement, till he should learn to respect the cus-
tous of the country, and betake himself to some honest means
of obtaining a livelihood.

I was much annoyed, however, by the little whiffet dogs
that run out upon passengers from every hovel, barking till
they are out of sight. I often admired the patience of the pos-
tillions—but they are probably fond of it. Noise seems to be
here the general passion. Church-bells are perpetually ring-
ing out, drums beat twice a-day, in the principal towns, a
ing the streets resound with the tattoo, or the reveillé; and in
the country whole dozens of little bells are constantly jingling
upon the harness of every caléche.

Before I turned about, I examined the ruins of the Fran-
ciscan convent, which had been burnt by General Wolfe to
dislodge its inhabitants, whose influence prevented supplies
from being brought him by the neighbouring peasantry, and
the chateau, as it was called, (I conjecture from its havin
been originally a seignorial mansion-house or gentleman’s seat
was never allowed to be repaired.

The neighbouring church, called Chateau Richer, from this
castellated mansion (whose walls are yet perfectly sound,
though they have been so long dismantled) was built in 1638;
and it is now undergoing a thorough repair.

The whole island of Orleans may be seen from hence; but
its appearance is uninteresting, on so near a view; from the
monotonous style of the settlements, house after house, at
equal distances, and so much alike that you cannot distin-
guish one from another.

The French settlements do not extend above fifty miles
below the island, though they are sprinkled along as far as
the harbour of Tadoussac on one side, and the town of Ka-
mouraska on the other, from whence downward, in a space of
hundreds of miles, nothing is to be seen on either hand but
mountains covered with brush-wood and rocks, grey with
the moss of ages, over or beside which innumerable streams
and rivers seem to gush, or roll in vain.

Voyacgs and Trave.s, No. 2. Vol. II. F

34 Travels in Lower Canada.

In this gigantic river, the water is brackish n¢ farther that
the Jower end of the island of Orleans, and the tide flows no
farther than the Lake of St. Pierre, yet the white porpoises
are frequently seen to pitch in the basin of Quebec, and whales
occasionally ascend as far as the river Sanguenay.*

On my return toward Quebec, I proceeded more leisurely that
T had done in coming down, and now found time to admire the
beautiful plants, or rather vines, which were occasionally to be
seen hanging from the lintel of an open window ; the windows
in Canada opening on hinges, from side to side, instead of
being hung with weights, to rise and fall, as with us. These
vines, it seems, are called jils d'araigner, or spiders’ threads,
from the singular delicacy of their tendrils; they are sus-
pended in small pots, which the earliest leaves soon cover, so
as completely to conceal the vessel which contains trem; the
plant then pushes forth its pendent strings of sprigs and flowers,
green, red, and blue, the clusters of which seem to be growing
in the air: frequently single pots of pinks, marigolds, and
other flowers, occupied the sills of the windows in the meanest
cottages, and gave them, more than any thing within, an ap-
pearance of domestic enjoyment. |

As IT walked along, the men had generally turned out to
mend the toads, much rain having fallen latterly, and the
surface being full of holes rooted up by the hogs. I asked
one grey-headed man how old he was. He told me he was

* The impetuous torrent of the Sanguenay is a curiosity of the watery
element, little, f at all, inferior to the thundering Falls of Niagara. The
banks are naked rocks, which rise from one hundred and seventy to thre
hundred and forty yards above the stream, whose current is at once broad,
dcep, and violent. In some places, falls of fifty or sixty feet cause it to rush
onward with inconceivable rapidity. It is generally from two to three miles
wide, to a distance of one or two hundred miles from its mouth, where it is
suddenly contracted by projecting rocks to the width of one mile only. At
the place of its discharge, attempts have been made to sound its depth, with
five hundred fathom of line, but without effect. At two miles up, the bot-
tom is indlcated at one hundred and thirty or forty fathoms, and seventy
miles from the St. Lawrence it is still from (ty to sixty fathoms déep.

Its comrse is very sinuous, owing to innymerable projecting points, con-
tracting its width from either shore: yet the'tide runs up it for seventy miles ;
and the ebb, on account of these obstructions, is much later than it is in the
great river, in consequence of which, at low water in the St. Lawrence, the
force of the Sanguenay is perceivable for several miles, after its current has
been absorbed in the broad bosom of the former, which is here twenty or
thirty miles wide.

Just within its mouth is the harbour of Tadoussac, which is well shel-
tered by surrounding heights, and furnishes anchorage for any number of
vessels, of the largest sige.

her thar
flows no
porpoises
d whales

rely than
mire the
ily to be
windows
stead of

These
threads,
are sus-
‘over, SO
em; the
| flowers,.
orowing
Ids, and
meanest
» an ap-

d out to
and the
I asked

he was

he watery
ara. The
ly to thre:
ice broad,
it to rush
bree miles
vhere it is
only. At
epth, with
, the bot-
dl seventy
Pep.
ints, con-
ty miles ;
t is in the
rence, the
urrent has
twenty or

well shel-
humber of

" Loretto. 35
sighty-one. “Ah! Monsieur,” added he, “ J’ai vu bien de
la misére, au monde.”* J quitted him with the obvious re-
mark, that such were generally those that lived the longest.

Iu the yard of a large grist-mill, through which the road
passed, I sat down to rest myself among the work-people who
were employed at their different occupations. IT soon perceived
that one of them noticed me particularly ; and I was just go-
ing to continue my journey, to avoid interrogation, when he
asked me, with more responsibility than his appearance indi-
cated, if I would not walk into the house to rest myself. I
assured him I was very well where I was. Then he would
have me to come in and take a cup of tea, for the French have
learned to love tea in America, though they have forgotten the
receipt for sonpe maigre. 1 civilly declined the offer, wishing
to reach Beauport by dinner-time, where I knew I might lay
by for the day at a tolerable inn. :

I now jogged on, without any farther adventures, to the in-
hospitable ina at Montmorency, where, however, the children
now broucht me plates of wild strawberries, for which I paid
them to their hearts’ content. These Canadian strawberries
are so very small, that I did not always think it necessary to
pull off the stems, but ate them sometimes by handfuls, stems
and all. Here they had been picked clean, and were served
up to me like a delicacy, which they really are.

Knowing this was no place to diae at, I went on, after a nap
in my chair, and reached Beauport, as the family were sitting
down to table; so I dined with them, as I could, upon salt-
fish, without eggs; for it was meagre day. The bread, how-
ever, was now eatable, for there is a baker in the village.

Next morning, instead of returning to Quebec, I concluded
to cross the country to Charlebourg; dined there, after stop-
ping at the church, where I was glad to shelter myself from
a drizzling rain; and in the afternoon proceeded to the

INDIAN VILLAGE OF LORETTO,

but was obliged to oe by the way, under a friendly roof, while
a smart shower refreshed the air. It cleared up before nicht,
and T readily found the village, by the direction of the steeple.
The Canadian Loretto takes its name from a representation
of the Holy House, on its way through the air, from Beth-
lehem, in Palestine, under the conduct of angelic guardians,
which the Catholic founders of this Indian church, whose zea!
will, at the present day, be readily allowed to be more con-
spicuous than their judgment, have placed over the altar.

Perse
* Ah! Sir, 1 have seen a great deul of misery in my time,

F 2

ee =
2a le

36

This, may I be permitted to observe by the way, is little
better than initiating the Hindoos in the Christian faith, by ex-
plaining, or rather attempting to explain, the mystery of elec-
tion and reprobation, by an arbitrary election of some, and re-
jection of others; whereas, the election of which the scriptures
speak (although in some parts they are hard to be understood,
and the unlearned wrest them to their own destruction,) the
election of grace is universal, being in Christ the seed of
Jacob, the second Adam, the quickening spirit; and the re-
jection or reprobation is of Esau, a figure of the first-born, or
natural man, not in some, but all; for it is a literal truth,
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We
must be born again. We must actually put on Christ, or
we shall never be saved by him; for he came tv save his people
from their sins, not in them. “ Know ye not, that Jesus Christ
is in you, except ye be reprobates ?’—*“ These are hard say-
ings,” said the Jews, “ Who can bear them ?”

Perhaps these children of nature had better have been left
to “ the Great Spirit,” whom their fathers worshipped, how-
ever ignorantly; and their intuitive belief in “the Land of
Souls,” than to have been thus impressed with one of the
idlest impositions of ancient superstition.

The village consists, besides the church, which appears now
to be much neglected, of forty or fifty square houses, standing
separate from each other, with spaces between, which serve
both for streets and yards to the listless inhabitants. Some
young men were lounging about. A girl, as fleet as a fawn,
frolicked round them occasionally, and the children were at
some noisy play. |

These simple people are of the Huron tribe, and they have
long been civilized, or rather naturalized, among the French
in Canada. They have lost their native habits of contempt for
labour, and fondness for war, and now live much in the Cana-
dian manner, though they preserve the Indian dress, as less
constraining to their limbs.

They occupy about two hundred acres, I was told, of their
own, but depend more willingly upon the precarious chances of
hunting and fishing, having recourse, when those fail them, to
hiring themselves out for bread among the neighbouring
farmers.

Under such circumstances they are fast forgetting the tra-
ditions of their ancestors, which are no longer preserved by
belts of wampum, and renewed, by periodical revival, during
the solemnities of a council fire; even the song and the dance
are now only taken up at distant intervals, to the monotonous
sounds of Yo! He! Waw! in perpetual repetition, to gratify

Travels in Lower Canada.

beet 29 SS ee eae ey tO OD

» is little
h, by ex-
r of elec-
b, and re-
scriptures
derstood,
ion,) the
seed of
d the re-
-born, or
al truth,
od. We
hrist, or
nis people
us Christ
ard say-

been left
ed, how-
Land of
e of the

ears now
standing’
ch serve
3 Some
a fawn,
were at

hey have
| French
lempt for
he Cana-
. as less

. of their
lances of
them, to

hbouring

the tra-
rved by
, during
1e dance
10tonous
oO gratify

Loretto. 37

the curiosity of European visitors, with the ferocious attitudes
and frantic gestures of trizmphant massacre.

The next day, being the sabbath, I should have gone to
church with the Indians, but there was to be no service; and I
should have staid to dinner with my host, but there was no
meat in the house; so I concluded to go to the French church,
half a mile distant: after visiting the Falls of St. Charles,
called by the natives Cabir Coubat, to express the abrupt turns
which the river here makes, as it descends, with a shrill con-
cussion, through narrow tunnels which it has worn in the
rocks, till it loses itself to the eye amid overhanging’ pines.

On the road to church the peasantry were collecting in
great numbers; they were decently but coarsely clad, in
jackets and trowsers of grey coating; and the youth were
amusing themselves with harmless sports, till the bell rung for
mass, for there was to be no sermon, the priests finding it
easier to perform their accustomed rig-ma-role of the mass,
than to task their ingenuity with the composition of a discourse
adapted to the uninformed situation of their parishioners, who
are thus literally left to “ perish for lack of knowledge.”

We had what is called High Mass, that is to say, the cere-
monies of the mass were accompanied with singing; they are
sometimes performed in apparent silence, the priests alone ut-
tering certain parts of the ritual in a low voice, not designed to
be heard by the congregation; and there was much smoaking
of incense, and sprinkling of holy water, a practice so very
puerile, that it is difficult for a Protestant to behold it without
a feeling of contempt jor the operator.

But the rehearsal of a language that has ceased to be spoken
ever since the decay of the Roman empire, and which there-
fore involves a period of at least fifteen hundred years, is a so-
lemn commentary upon the lapse of ages.

I consider this perpetuation of a dead language (however
absurd it may appear In practice) as an unbroken link in the
chain of history, that attaches, with irresistible conviction, the
New Testament dispensation to that of the Old; and I reverence
it in the order of Providenee, as I do the Jews, that peculiar
peor prepared of the Lord, for the introduction into the
world of his only begotten Son, by whose genealogies and pro-
phetic annunciations, (however unwittingly on their part,) we
are assured of the birth of the Messiah, which was to be (I ap-
peal to Moses and the prophets) before the kingdom should de-
part from Judah, before the daily sacrifice should be taken away,
and whilst it was yet possible to trace the descent of the King of
Israel from the house of David, and the tribe of Judah.

And if the true ‘believer cannot but contemn the inummery

38 Travels in Lower Canada.

of superstition, engrafted by priestcraft upon ee sim-
plicity, it may yet excite his wonder, that the decayed fabric
of Christianity should have stood the shock of reformation,
and been restored in the Protestant professions to new life and
vigour.

The rocks which compose the chain of mountains, which
forms an immense amphitheatre behind the village of Loretto,
and terminates in the promontory of Cape Tourment, consist,
I am told, of a quartz of the colour of amber, sometimes white,
with a black glimmer, and a few grains of brown spar. Not
far from the point of the Cape, there is said to be a considerable
lake upon the summit of the mountain.

I was now nine miles north of the St. Lawrence, upon a
commanding elevation, from which there is an unbounded
view of the great river, in its course toward the ocean ; of the
heights of Quebec, and its glittering roofs and spires, whose
reflection is too powerful for the eye, even at this distance ;
of the island of Orleans ; of the southern coast, and, far beyond
all, of the long chain of mountains which separates Canada
from the United States.

Nothing can be more sublime than this uninterrupted view
of one of the greatest rivers in the world, it being five miles
wide, where it is unequally divided by the island of Orleans,
which is upwards of three hundred from the sea.

You trace the channel as far as Cape Tourment, a bluff
nearly perpendicular, which rises to a h2ight of two thousand
feet, and is distinctly visible, in its majestic outline, at the dis-
tance of forty miles, abruptly terminating, to the eye, the dim-
seen mountains that bound the horizon, at an unknown dis-
tance, for at least as many leagues, allowing to the ravished
eye, at one protracted glance, a softened view of the tremen-
dous precipices,

Which pour a sweep of rivers from their sides ;
And, high between contending nations, rear
The rocky, long division.

I now set out in good spirits for Quebec, refreshed myself
at Charlebourg, and reached town as the bells were tolling for
seven o'clock, the hour at which the churches are closed. Here
I supped deliciously upon fresh salmon, after the poor fare I
had met with in the country; and I listened again at nine
o'clock to the penetrating trumpets, by which the hour of re-
tirement is sounded every night.

The first bishop of Quebec was a Montmorency, of the no-
ble house that has furnished so many dukes and marshals of
France, in the most brilliant periods of the French monarchy.

nitive sim-
yed fabric
formation,
w life and

ns, which
f Loretto,
t, consist,
mes white,
spar. Not
asiderable

+ upon a
nbounded
in; of the
es, whose
distance ;
ar beyond
s Canada

oted view
five miles
Orleans,

, a bluff
thousand
t the dis-
the dim-
pwn dis-
ravished
tremen-

myself
ling: for
d. Here
r fare I
at nine
r of re-

the no-
shals of
mnarchy.

a Quebec. 39

I must have somewhere seen his epitaph, though I cannot now
recollect where; but the celebrated Falls we have just visited,
were probably called after him, and, if so, he may be said to
have a more splendid monument than any of his illustrious an-
cestors. How much more durable! Since those were proba-
bly overturned in the fury of the revolution, whilst the resplen-
dent cataract, faithful to its trust, will perpetuate the name
of the good bishop to the end of the world,

Quebec is subjected to frequent rains, by the neighbouring
mountains which arrest the clouds in its vicinity ; and it has
little to boast of in summer, though the days are very long,
from its high northern latitude, (46. 55.) The sun now rises
about four o’clock, and sets about eight.—The winter is
allowed to be the season of enjoyment here.

A sufticient stock of meat and poultry is killed when the
cold sets in, which it usually does in November, continuing
without intermission till April, and sometimes encroaching
upon May. The snow then usually lies upon the ground from
four to six feet deep. The meat, as weil as every thing else
that is exposed to the cold, instantly freezes; and it is thus
kept, without further trouble, till it is wanted.

As the snows fall, the inhabitants turn out to keep the road
open, that their intercourse with their neighbours may not be
impeded. The air is constantly serene and healthful; the
nights are illuminated with the aurora borealis; and the time
is spent in giving and returning visits between town and coun-
try. Dancing-parties are frequently formed by the young people
at one another’s houses, and the gay scene is at its height when
the wreat river freezes over, as it sometimes does from side to
side. The island of Orleans is then accessible, and every
body turning out upon the “ pont,” as they call it, on skates,
or else in sleds and carrioles,

The then gay Jand is maddened all to joy.

Spring at length opens suddenly ; the ice breaks up with
tremendous crashes; and vegetation follows in surprising
rapidity, as soon as the surface of the ground is clear of snow.

Such they say is, occasionally, the extremity of the cold,
that wine freezes even in apartments heated by stoves, the
pipes of which are conveyed through every room. Brandy
exposed to the air will thicken to the consistence of oil; and
the quicksilver of thermometers condenses to the bulb, and
may possibly congeal, for even mercury freezes at 39 degrees
below the beginning of Fahrenheit. ;

Heavy snows come in October. During November they

40

sometimes continue falling for weeks together ; and when the
cold at length purifies the atmosphere, the moon-light nights
are almost as brilliant as the day; for the sun cannot rise very
high between eight in the morning and four in the afternoon;
and the full-moon, reflected by the snow and ice, is bright
enough to admit of a the smallest print.

The roads, which would have been utterly impassable had
they not been kept beaten, as the snow fell, and marked across
the undistinguishing waste by pine-bushes, stuck in from
space to space, now harden to the consistence of ice, under the
runners of the carrioles, which seem to flit in air as they whirl
along the impatient passenger (muffled up in furs till nothing
appears but the tip of his nose,) at the rate of fifieen or twenty
miles an hour.

One of the amusements of winter is to go a fishing upon the
ice. For this purpose large openings are made, in certain
places, which the fish are known to frequent. The broken ice
is piled up arch-wise, to shelter the fishermen from the wind ;
and the fish coming hither for air, are easily caught, especi-
ally at night, when the men use lights, and sometimes kindle
fires, which attract the fish to the circle, and produce a singu-
lar effect, at a distance, through the hollow masses of trans-
parent ice, the angles of which glitter on your approaching
them, as if they were hung with diamonds.

Notwithstanding this extraordinary frigidity, Canady lies in
the same latitude with the smiling provinces of old France.
The greater degree of cold upon the new continent must be
attributed to the land stretching away to the vicinity of the
Pole, with little intervening sea, and expanding at the same
time very far to the west. The whole range of winter winds,
therefore, from N. E. to N. W. passing over but little sea to
divest them of their rigour, gather fresh cold in traversing
immense tracts of snow and ice.

The Episcopal Cathedral, a handsome building, erected at
a great expence (I believe of royal munificence) upon the spot
once occupied by the convent and cloisters of the Recollects,
or Franciscan Friars, is now undergoing a reparation which
marks ostensibly the peculiarities of the climate.

This structure is of Grecian architecture (Ionick, if I re-
member right), finished with the broad entablature and low
pediment, prescribed by the rules of that order ; but its flat
ruof has been found incapable of supporting the weight of
snow which annually rests upon it; and to rendo the building
tight and comfortable, it has been found necessary to spoil its
clegant proportions, by raising the roof at least ten feet
higher.

Travels in Lower Canada.

Yd ML0LT

“a MCaao

* UMLVUVLQE” JO FLD]

-

when the
it nights
rise very
fternoon;

is bright
able had

2d across

in from
inder the
ney whirl
| nothing
or twenty

upon the
n certain
roken ice
vind ;

'y especi-
es kindle
a singu-
of trans-
roaching

y lies in
France.
must be
ty of the
the same
er winds,
le sea to
aversing

rected at

the spot
ecollects,
on which

if I re-
and low
t its flat
yeight of
building
spoil its
ten feet

2Y4d WoL

‘JIA aa 2 oO

* MLVYVAQE” JO SUI] ]

=
SS
*
=
3
&
w
Ss
ef
sq

Hl

Hi
1

|
i]
"

i

da ATH | il

Hi]
AA

*

al

Hii i i,

itt Hit
|

ij Will iM

Hi

!

Quebec. Al

The steeple of this church, though on a smaller scale, is
evidently modelled from that of Christ Church, Philadelphia,
which is the handsomest structure of the spire kind that ever
T saw in any part of the worlds uniting the peculiar features
of that species of architecture, the most elegant variety of
forms, with the most chaste simplicity of combination. It is al-
lowed. by all foreigners to do great credit to the taste and
talents of the architect, (Robert Smith.

Quebec is much nearer to Boston than it is to Halifax, or
St. John's. By the route of the Chaudiere and the Kenne-
beck, it is no more than 370 miles to the capital of New Eng-
land; but it is not less than 627 to that of Nova Scotia, by the
road which was traced, by General Haldimand, in the year
1783, to St. John’s in New Brunswick, thence crossing the
Bay of Fundy to Halifax; but it is even now barely practica-
ble, stretching for the most part across uninhabited. adn.

By Craig’s road, which was cut by the command of Sir
James, when governor-general in 1809, toward the American
frontier, but which remains still unfinished, it would be only
200 miles to Hallowell, a town on the Kennebeck, from whence
that river is navigable to the sea It is but seventy miles from
the out-settlements on the Kennebeck to the French posts on
the riviere du Loup, a branch of the Chaudiere—the country
between, mountainous and rugged, but intersected by rivers
and streams.

I now prepared for my return by land, resolving to take
the caléche, the Canadian post-chaise, that I might have the
better opportunity of seeing the country, and observing the
manners of the people; though I had been almost discouraged
from the attempt, by apjrehuuetous of imposition from the
post-masters and postillions, whom I supposed to be no better
than their brethren in Europe; and the certainty that this
mode of conveyance would cost me at least twice as much as
a passage in the steam-boat; the fare on-board of which, up
the river, is but twelve dollars, including every thing, (ten
dollars down.) Passengers are also provided for in the steerage,
on-board of these boats, at one-quarter of the price.

I left Quebec with a confirmed opinion, that, although its
citadel, reputed the strongest fortification in America,’ with
its hundreds of heavy cannon, and its thousands of well-disci-
plined troops, might possibly, in future wars between the two
countries (which Heaven avert), fal] a prey to American enter-
prise and intrepidity; yet the conquest would cost infinitely
more than it could be worth; and must be with difficulty
maintained against the re-action of the greatest naval power on

Voyaces and Travens, No. 2. Vol. Lil.

igh eae TENS SREB SY

Pe f Des
min tigger

aoe —
Bib mtsiec + rye er
5 SO ea a AONE IT

42 Travels in Lower Canada.

earth, to whose approaches by sea it must ever remain ac-
cessible.

I say not the same of Upper Canada, whose population is,
or will be, essentially American ; and whose attachment to the

government of Great Britain must inevitably yield to the’

habits and opinions of their continental neighbours. In short,
I may venture to predict, with little apprehension of contro-
versy, that by the next competition between England and
America, if it be not very hastily brought on, Upper Canada
will be nearly Americanised. Montreal itself will have be-
come to all efficient purposes an American town; the French
population there will gradually assimilate, or disappear; un-
| indeed, French Canada should be consolidated by na-
tional independence; and the eventual boundary of Lower
Canada will probably be the Sorel on one side, and the St.
Maurice on the other ;* leaving to his Majesty of Great Bri-
tain and his successors the steril and inhospitable shores
that stretch—

To farthest Lapland and the frozen main.

Canada is as costly a feather in the royal cap as any other of
the imperial trappings ; and why should republicans volunteer
their services to prevent its being paid for beyond its value.

Yet, if the “Walon expenditure of men or money—if the un-
necessary waste of thousands of the former, and millions of the
latter, should ever be allowed to enter into the calculations of
courts and cabinets; if, in short, it had been ever known, that
nations, or rather ministers, should voluntarily relinquish
power, when once obtained, by whatever means, or for what-
ever purpose, I should not think it altogether hopeless to re-
commend it as the policy of Britain, in case of another war
with America, to relinquish Upper Canada, and leave 'the
French to their own government, as an independent nation ;

* 'This is a line of demarkation, not merely superficial ; but which has been
traced out, for hundreds of miles, by navigable waters; whose course, from
north to south, is marked by a perceptible variation of soil and elimate.—
There is a difference of six weeks in the opening of spring, between Mon.
treal (where the seasons do not differ materially from the meridian of King-
ston) and the petrifying winter of Quebec. There is at least half that differ-
ence. between the Island of Montreal and the eastern side of the rivers above-
mentioned ; and I shall venture to say it, (however imaginary the fact may
seem) that an observant traveller, in ascending the St. Lawrence, can hardly
fail to mark the variation in the looks and manners of the people ; as soon
as he crosses this tine, by the wide ferry which appears to traverse the mouths
of three'rivers, an illusion occasioned by two islands that here divide the St.
Maurice into three different channels.

oe ee ee a Sree |

it ace

ion is,
to the

to the’

short,
ontro-
d and
anada
e be-
rench
rs un-
ry na-
ower
he St.
t Bri-
shores

ther of
unteer
alue.

he un-
of the
ions of
n, that
iquish
what-
to re-
or war
ve 'the
ation ;

as been
e, from
nate.——
n Mont.
f King-
| differ-
above-
ct may
hardly
as soon
mouths
the St.

Quebee. 43

withdrawing all future protection and support from their
North American Provinces; excepting those of New Bruns-
wick and Nova Scotia, with their dependencies; which, being
on the sea-board, may be easily defended if ever they should
be attacked; and which woald continue to aftord to Great
Britain all the benefits she ever drew, or could expect to
draw, from the possession of Canada :—An acquisition which
became worse than useless to England, from the moment of
the declaration of independence by her adjacent provinces,
now the United States.

Her gigantic navy would preserve its nursery—-the fisheries
of Newfoundland; the territories of New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia could be maintained without the enfeebling strain
of perpetual exertion; and Canada would be no longer, what
it must ever be, while it remains a British Province—a Lone
to pick between England and America—or a shell for the lot
- either party, while the oyster is thrown away between
them.

Let not these ideas be rejected with contempt, as altoge-
ther visionary, (however unpalatable they may be in England.)
—Trans-atlantic dominion can never be perpetual in the heart
of the American continent — however long, or however
cheaply, it may be maintained upon the peninsula of Nova
Scotia; in the secluded recesses of New Holland; (though
they embrace another continent)—in the West-Indies, or in
the East.

As soon as the native population of Upper Canada (and
soon it will, in a clime fe eae a soil whereon the principle
of life is evidently susceptible of its utmost Eu becomes
sufficiently numerous to make self-government, (the natural
right of all distinct associations of men) convenient and desir-
able; all the power of Britain cannot delay the event ; when-
ever another Franklin shall arise, at Toronto, or on the
borders of the Lakes, to enlighten the minds of his country-
men with political truth, and direct their efforts towards the
aequisition of national independence.

How much wiser then would it be (to say nothing of huma-
nity, Christianity, and so forth—since those principles are not
allowed to obtain among nations who, individually, profess
their obligation) to permit the course of nature to take place
without a strugg]e ?—Natural parents take delight in the in-
dependence of their offspring. Will mother-countries, as they
proudly call themselves, always insist upon the perpetual sub-
jugation of their colonia) progeny ? .

This, if I may be allowed to dilate the figure, is acting the

44 Travels in Lower Canada.

part of a step-mother—who has but an equivocal claim to filial
obedience.

U per Canada, or British America, is preven stretched by
English geographers from the shores of the Atlantic to the
Southern Ocean; and the boundless pretension serves to co-
lour, with red, upon the map of the world, a _ Hag sor of the
northern hemisphere, until it whitens the Pole. ut Upper
Canada, Proper, or that part of it which is at all likely to be
inhabited during the present generation, is a fertile territory,
lying under a temperate sky, of about equal dimensions with
the State of New York, which already contains a million of
souls ; and upon which it bounds, both above and below Lake
Ontario, for a space of one or two hundred miles.

This extensive tract is isolated by nature, between the
Ottawa River, a branch of the St. Lawrence, and Lake
Nippissing, with its outlet, called French River, emptying
into Lake Huron on the north; the broad expanse of Lake
Huron on the north and west; and Lakes ‘Erie and Ontario
toward the south.

Upper Canada presents asolecism in politics; as.well asa
paradox in geography. An island, or at least a peninsula, in
the heart of a continent: Its prosperity, as a nation, will be
its ruin as a province. The stronger it grows, the weaker it
will become, as a dependency of Britain. Let ber beware of
i ila was under a delusion when he numbered

srael,

I would not be counted an enemy of England, because I
tell her unwelcome truths. I am a friend to Britain; and
pon ever been proud of my descent, from the first nation upon
earth.

This isolated territory, or, if you will, peninsula, at a dis-
tance of a thousand miles from any sea, is now settling—not
with English, but with Americans, who pass into. it by thou-
sands, through the ample isthmus which separates Lake Erie
from Lake Ontario—and a man must shut his eyes not to see
the inevitable consequence.

It appears, from history, that in the year 1629 the infant
Province of Canada was taken from the French by the Eng-
lish: but it was then held in little estimation, (as it would
have been in 1759, if it had not been a security for the peace
of the adjacent provinces) and, three years afterward, the un-
ce possession was restored to its rightful owners. The

ritish Crown (it was. worn by Charles I.) was then, it seems,
wise enough to relinquish Canada, as an acquisition not worth
the expence of maintaining; nd, if it should eventually do so

sone
quoi
rema

ed by
io the
to co-
of the
J pper
to be
itory,
s with
ion of

Lake

n the
Lake

ty ings
Take
utario

lasa
tla, in
‘ill be
ker it
are of
bered

use I
3; and
upon

a dis-
—Not
thou-

Montreal. 45

in, by its own act, the deed will not be without a precedent.
If Canada was then worth less than it is now—How much
less did it cost ?*

RETURN TO MONTREAL, BY LAND.

I was a little fretted upon Jeaving Quebec, at the unex-
pected demand of the Poste Royale, which has been carefully
transferred to Canada, by the brethren of the whip: but no
other imposition did I suffer till I reached Montreal. Every
ore took his established fare, one-quarter of a dollar per
eague, and looked for no gratuity. The two first postillions
had no whips. Not-one of them swore at their horses, invari-
ably managing the obedient animals with nothing more than.
“ Marche donc!” There was no liquor at the post-houses,
not even where they professed to entertain travellers; for the
police regulations are here very strict, against unnecessary
tippling houses; and instead of calling for something to drink,
at every stage, the post-boys invariably sat down and smoked
a pipe, in familiar conversation with the people of the house.
One of them was deaf—of course he was silent; but the next
hummed a tune, with incessant volubility; and a third—
“ Whistled as he went, for want of thought.”

At St. Augustine, whose church is at the bottom of a hill,
along the summit of which runs the road, there stands what is
here called a Calvary; that is a crucifix, as large as life, ele-
vated upon steps, railed in, and covered overhead with a bell-
shaped roof, surmounted, as are most of the simple crosses,
with a cock; not as a late traveller has supposed, in remem-
brance of Peter’s denial of his Lord, but as the symbol of
patriotism.

At a place called Sillery Cove, in this vicinity, the Jesuits
erected a chapel, and other buildings, as early as the year
1637, for converting the natives to Christianity. They had
arrived from France but twelve years before. The ruins of
this edifice still remain; and in Sillery Wood, where the Al-
gonquins, the ancient allies of the French, against the Iro-
quois, or Five Nations, had a large village, there still
rem@gins some of the tumuli of these native inhabitants of the

* Charlevoix says, with amusing simplicity, that the French King would
not have reclaimed La Nouvelle France, considering it as a possession that
was a burthen to the crown, (the advances exceeding the returns) but for
the sake of being instrumental in converting the natives to Christianity ; a
deed which was in thet age thought no less meritorious than had been, in
the days of Lewis IX. that of dispossessing the Infidels of the Sepulchre of
Christ. [See vol. I. p.(}93.]

Travels in Lower Canada.

46

forest; and their mementos, cut upon the stems of trees, may
yet be traced by the curious observer.

My post-boys scrupulously lifted their hats to ee body
we met, whether man, woman, or child; but that kind of
obeisance to the crosses would appear to be now dispensed with,
for there was but one postillion out of twenty or thirty that
appeared to take any notice of them whatever—perhaps the
service may have been commuted for a mental Ave Mary, in
consequence of the ridicule to which that ceremony exposed
them from British travellers.

POINTE AUX TREMBLES.

At the little village of Pointe aux Trembles, where! there is —

not only a church, but a small convent of nuns, the parson of
the parish was strolling through the village, with a book under
his arm—to show that he was not absolutely

Occupé a ne rien faire.*

Among the half-dozen hovels of the place was a lodging-
house, under the pompous designation of l’Hotel Stuart. I
had seen a tavern ainong the dirty lanes of the lower town of
Quebec, which was kept by a Valois; and a petty grocery,
hard by, under my own proper names, both first and last,
with the variation of a single letter in the surname ; to which
I was now indifferently reconciled by finding myself in such
company.

I am in the habit of observing the names upon signs, they
are often curiously appropriate to the occupations of the par-
ties—What think you for instance of Burnop for a baker ?
Sometimes they afford genealogical traces, and hints of nati-
onal history. I have often been amused in New England
with the names of Endicot and Coddington—the posterity of
former governors, metamorphosed into shop-keepers, and
tailors; and in a suburb of Montreal, unconscious of the ho-
nours of illustrious descent, I observed a Rapin on one side
of the way, and a Racine on the other. One was a petty
grocer, the other a shoemaker, who had probably never heard
of the historian or the poet.

It was at this place that General Arnold, after ascending
the Kennebeck, against its rapid current, from the sea-coast
of Maine, and crossing the White Mountains, where they are
interrupted by the impetuous torrent of the Chaudiere, (ap-
pearing, like a vision of enchantment, in the eyes of the bons
citoyens of Quebec, who would as soon have expected an

* Engaged a doing nothing. (Boileau.) .

arri
forn

pos:
Cha
in t
Sir

oars
Can
had
sant
agai

Am

the

T
tier
abot
* pl
be O.
cu
66 pe
* to
“ fo
66 Sz
I
66 OR |
fift
66 V
66 ve

ps, may

y body

ind of
ed with,
rty that
naps the
fary, in
px posed

arson of
yk under

odging-
uart. I
town of
grocery,
nd last,
o which
in such

ns, they
the par-
baker ?
of nati-
England
terity of
ars, and
f the ho-
one side
a petty
er teard

cending
ea-coast
they are
re, (ap-
the bons
cted an

there is

Point aux Trembles. 47

arrival from the moon upon the opposite peak of Point Levy)
formed a junction with General Montgomery, who, having
possessed himself, almost without resistance, of the castle of
Chamblee and the town of St. John’s, had entered Montreal
in triumph, and descended the St. Lawrence to this point—
Sir Guy Carleton fleeing before him in a boat with muffled
oars. Thus scouring in a few weeks the whole province of
Canada, to this short distance from its capital, Montgomery
had a regiment of Canadians in his train, for the French pea-
santry had, at the breaking out of the war, refused to arm
against their neighbours, and were disposed to favour the
American cause, notwithstanding it appeared among them in

the equivocal guise of successful invasion.

The postillion that conducted me to the river Jacques Car-
ier was quite a humourist. He replied to my first inquiries
about the state of the country :— Monsieur, Cest le pays le
* plus aimable, pour la misere, que vous trouverez nulle part.
“ On travaille beaucoup pour gagner peu. Oh! c’est une oc-
“ cupation que la vie, ici, je vous en assure. Nous avons un
“ petit bout d'été et donc, tout de suite, la gelé, qui vient
“toujours 4 la St. Michel [the 29th of September] Quelque
“ fois pendaant la Récolte méme. Toujours avant la Tous
“ Saints,”* [the lst November. ]

IT asked hin his age, thinking he might be about sixty.—
“ Monsieur, J’ ai quarante ans, juste”’t I told him I was
fifty. ‘ Mais vous avez l’air plus jeune que moi. Et comme
“vous avez de l’embonpoint! Je pense que vous devez
“ venir de Boston? Les Bostonnois sont tous de gros hom-
“mes (He was himself a little fellow of five feet three)
“ Vos chevaux aussi sont grands. Les notres sont petits.
“ Mais nous les faisons aller a toutes jambes.”{ (We were
now descending a hill, at the rate of ten or twelve miles an
hour, I thought at the imminent risque of our necks.) “ Comme
“les hommes de notre pays, l’on est oblige de fair plus q’on
“ne peut.”§

* Sir, it is the most charming country for misery that you shall find any
where. We work a great deal to earn a little—Oh! Life is an occupation
here, I assure you. We have a little bit of summer, and then directly comes
frost; which happens always by St. Michael’s day. Sometimes in harvest
—Always by All Saints.

+ Sir, [ aim forty years old.

t But you look younger than I do; and in what good case you are, I
think you must be from Boston. ‘The Bostoners (a general term here for
Americans) are all big men, Your horses too are large. Ours are very, very
little: but we make them lay leg to it.

§ Like the men of our country, they are obliged to do more than they
can,

48 Travels in Lower Canada.
I euaaies how the French liked the English. “Comme
ga

essieurs les Anglois,” were very brave, generous, and so
forth. ‘‘ Mais ils ne sont pas polis, comme les Francois. Quel-
‘que fois aussi ils ne sont pas de bonne humeur. IIs se mettent
en colére souvent sans savoir pourquoi.’ *

Were the Canadians content under the British Government ?
“Oh pour ga, oui! l’on ne sauroient étre mieux.”—Y-a-t-il
loin, Monsieur, d’ici 4 Philadelphie? ”’t Answer, two hun-
dred leagues. “C’est bien loin——Mais ce doit étre un bien
beau pays.”

We had, by this time, reached the little river Jacques Car-
tier, so called from the first explorer ef the Saint Lawrence,
who wintered here in 1538, on his return down the river. It
here disembogues itself between steep banks, with a rapid
current.

I _ was set over this wild ferry, in a small canoe, just before
dark, and had to find my way, with my baggage in my hand,
as well as I could, up the opposite hill. ‘ts rugged heights
had been fortified to oppose the descent of the English in the
year 1760. I was received, however, at the inn (one of the
best on the road) as well as if I had arrived in a coach and
four.

I enquired after the Salmon Leap, for which this river is
famous. They had just begun to appear. Two had been
caught at the Falls that morning; but they had been sold.
For how much ?—T bree-quarters of a dollar a-piece.

Salmon have been caught here weighing from thirty to forty
pounds. They are impatient of the heat, which prevails in the
great river at the time of their arrival, and dart eagerly up the
cool streams of the smaller rivers, with a view to deposit their
spawn in places of security. When a rapid, or cataract, ob-
structs their passage, (which is often the case in Canada,) they will
leap ten or fifteen feet at a time to get over it; and these pow-
erful fish are sometimes seen struggling with insurmountable
obstacles, against which they will leap six or seven times, if as
often thrown back into the adverse current.

Upon my expressing a wish to have some salmon for break-
fast, the men said they would go out in the morning and try to
catch one for me. By the time I got up they had brought in
a fine one, weighing twelve or thirteen pounds.

* Pretty well—but they are not polite like the French. Sometimes they
are fretful. ‘They often get angry, without knowing why.

+ Oh yes, for that matter. We could not be better—Is it far from here
to Philadelphia?

t That is a great way ; but it must be a very fine country. [The word Phi-
ladelphia is here synonimous with Pennsylvania. |

‘Comme
8, and so
s. Quel-
e mettent

Prnment ?

Y-a-t-il
two hun-
» un bien

es Car-
awrence,
iver. It

a rapid

st before
y hand,
i heights
h in the
e of the
oach and

river is
nad been
2en sold.

r to forty
ls in the
y up the
osit their
ract, ob-
they will
ese pow-
ountable
nes, if as

r break-
id try to
ought in

MAES

imes they
from here

word Phi-

Pointe Aux Trembles. 49

I breakfasted with an excellent relish, and passed lightly
through Cap Santé, Port Neuf, and Dechambault, observing a
large old mansion-house upon the right; upon the left a grove
of trees, near a small church. At the river St. Aune there was
a large church, unusually situated, fronting the water. As I
crossed a wide ferry, a groupe of Indian boys were amusing
themselves on the shore, half naked, a wig-wain near.

At Battiscan, another large river not many miles from this,
there was an Indian encampment. Several comfortable wig-
wams stood close together. The females belonging to this
tribe, very decently dressed, in their fashion, were industriously
occupied under the trees, while children of all ages were playing
upon the beach.

The men, I was told, were outa hunting. They catch bea-
vers, otters, raccoons, opossums, and other wild animals, such
as hares, rabbits, deer, and sometimes bears; upon which, to-
gether with fish from the river, such as sturgeon, salmon, pike,
perch, &c. they often feast luxuriously, while the inactive Cana-
dians are sitting down to scanty portions of bacon and eggs.

Of the feathered game, with which these woods and waters
abound in their season, I may mention wild geese, an endless
variety «f ducks, wood-cocks, plovers, quails, wild-turkies,
heath-be: ~ild-pigeons, in inconceivable abundance. The
eagle, ui .’«k, and the crane, are not unknown in Canada,
though rare, these noble birds sedulously keeping themselves
out of danger in unfrequented wilds.

During my progress, I was frequently amused with the sim-

le naiveté of the post-boys, one of whom was only twelve years
old, but had already driven several years.

“ Comment vas ton Pere? Barrabie,”* said one of them to
a boy that followed us on horseback, apparently for the plea-
sure of company.

‘‘ Je veux boire un peu d’eau,”’t said another, as he stopped
short at a spring by the road side, without leave or licence.

“Si vous voulez aller plus vite, passez avant,”’{ said one
that was returning empty, to the boy that was driving me, and
whom we had quietly followed at his own pace for some time.

“ Pourquoi courez vous a@ pied?” said another to a little
fellow that was running after us, for his own pleasure. “ Mon-
tez derriere.’’§

e

Observing larger barns than usual, as I advanced, and a good

* How is your father? Barrabie.

+ I will take a drink of water.

{ If you want to go faster, drive on.

§ Why do you run a-foot? Get up behind.

Vovaces and Travets, No. 2. Vol. IIT. H

50 Travels in Lower Canada.

grazing country, though the cattle looked very small and lean,
(there were but few sheep in the whole route,) I asked my
man whether they had begun to mow in those parts. It was
near the borders of Lake St. Pierre. ‘Non, Monsieur,” said
he, “ Cela ne se fait jamais avant la St. Anne,* [the 26th of
July.] Every thing goes by saints here. I now observed fre-
quent patches of flax, barley, and oats, but very little wheat or
corn. Toward evening we approached

THREE-RIVERS,

and I was now obliged to take boat, or rather to seat myself upon
straw, in the bottom of a canoe, to be ferried over the mouth of
the St. Maurice, a stream that flows from the north-east some
hundreds of miles ; by which the savages in the vicinity of Hud-
son’s Bay formerly descended to this town in great numbers.

As we landed upon the beach, there was a bvat ashore from
a vessel from Glasgow. It was interesting to one who had
been in Scotland, to see the sailors with their blue bonnets and
plaids.

In the town, which has nothing extraordinary in its appear-
ance, there is, or rather was, a monastery of Recollets and
convent of Ursulines. ‘The monastery has long been con-
verted into a jail, and the convent having been burnt down
a few years since, and wholly rebuilt, has lost the prestige of
antiquity, though it was founded in 1677, by the same good
bishop that endowed the one at Quebec for the education of
young women, and an asylum for the old and sick.

A young girl from the States, (as the American Union is fa-
miliarly called here) brought up a Protestant, had taken the
veil in this convent a few days before I was there.

There is a superieure and eighteen nuns here, but I was dis«
appointed of seeing them at matins, by that invidious curtain
which I have already had occasion to reprobate. Nothing was
to be seen but an old man prostrating himself before the altar,
{ was struck with something unusual in his manner, as he rose
from his knees, and passed out into the sacristy. It was the
Abbé de Calonne, brothcr to the prime-minister of that name,
who took refuge here during the French revolution, and who
now, it seems, thinks himself too old to return to France, even
to behold the restoration of the throne and the altar.

As I returned to the inn, I met an old man of whimsical ap.
pearance, with a large cocked-hat flapped before. I enquired
who it might be, and was told that he was a man in his 104th
gent that he had been a singular humourist ; was still fond of

is joke, and always made a point of flourishing his cane when-
* No, Sirs We neyer mow before St. Anne’s day.

eee ne

a ne

lean,
d my
t was
said
ith of
pd fre-
eat or

9

f upon
sale of
t some
Hud-
ers.
from
o had
ts and

ppear-
bts and

a con-

down
tige of
e good
tion of

1 Is fa-
on the

as dis«
urtain
1g’ Was
- altar.
e rose
as the
name,
1 who
, even

ul aps
juired
104th
ond of
when-

enn

Three-Rivers. 51

ever he met a woman: whether this was a freak of fondness,
or aversion, I neglected to enquire.

There are here several Jewish families of the names of Hart
and Judah. They are said to be no less respectable than the
Gratzes of Philadelphia, and the Gomezes of New-York. The
father of the former, when he first came hither, could have
bought half the town for a thousand pounds, and thought it
dear. But property is now becoming valuable. It lies on the
right-side of the St. Maurice, as respects the United States ;
being’ on the road to which is here reckoned a recommendation
to lands on sale. A new jail and court-house are erecting,
and cross-roads are laying out into new townships now settling
in the neighbourhood, with disbanded soldiers.

I got all this local information from two of his British ma-
Jesty’s civil officers, with the exception of the recommendation
above hinted at; (I picked that out of a newspaper.) These
gentlemen introduced themselves to me as king’s counsel and
recorder (if I remember right) during my evening’s ramble
from the inn—excused their freedom, as being happy to see a
new face, and insisted upon the ple:sure of accompanying me
round the town.

The former was a young gentleman of a refugee family of
the name of Ogden, originally of New York; the latter a Ca-
nadian, of Scotch descent. He led the way to his own house,
ordered wine and water, and pressed me earnestly to consent
to dine with him next day. He took me for an Englishman
just landed at Quebec, and deprecated any fresh disputes with
America.

The commissioners for settling the boundary-line between
Canada and the United States were said to be setting up oppo-
site claims to the vacant territories, which it was observed could
not be worth disputing about; but that each party on such oc-
casions must appear strenuous for the rights of his country.
The people here wish for nothing more than the establishment
of the line upon the height of land which separates the streams
which run into the St. Lawrence, from those which run south-
ward; and it is devoutly to be hoped that this definite barrier
will not be exchanged for a line of demarcation, less strongly
marked by nature, as the northern limit of the United States—
the preservation of which is of infinitely greater importance to
the peace and welfare of the two countries, than the possession
of a few millions of useless acres on one side or the other.

The commissioners are collected, it seems, at St. Regis, some
distance above Montreal, where the ideal line strikes the (St.
Lawrence, and from thence proceeds westward, up the middle
of the river, and through the great lakes Ontario, Erie, Hu-
ron, and Superior, to the unexplored lake of the woods.

ee
xz

Nb

1H
Ly
bid
a
*
pt

‘
+
;
i
i

Ba

52 Travels in Lower Canada.

St. Regis is an Indian village, a sort of neutral region,
where the contending parties will be likely to spend a good
deal of time, as ambassadors use to do, in disputing for the
honour of their respective principals.

In a shop-window of this unfrequented place, [ saw again,
with renewed interest, a caricature of the fall of Bonaparte,
with which I remember to have been particularly struck, when
the event was recent, in the British metropolis, where this
species of substantial wit is carried to its utmost perfection. It
is not understood at Paris, where the spirit of satire evaporates
in a transient pun, or a temporary distich.

The little ravager of the world appears on the left of the
scene—on the right is Atlas with his globe. A label issuing
from the mouth of Bonaparte exclaims: “ De Prusse be mine.
De Russe be mine! All the world will be mine! if you will
only hold it up a little longer, Monsieur Atlas!” “No, no,”
replies the sturdy bearer of the world, in vulgar English, “ V’Ik
be hang’d if I do. Since you wont let it alone, Master Bony,
you may carry it yourself,” And as the grim,Colossus launches
the monstrous burthen upon the little conqueror, (who kicks
ap his heels, to save his bacon, with ridiculous earnestness) his
principal generals, Marmont, Massena, and the rest, with cha-
racteristic levity, bid their old master, ‘“ Good night.”*

ea

* This ludicrous caricature reminds me, perhaps not inopportunely, of a
serious representation of the great Napoleon, which was re-published in
America, after the first fall of the tyrant, and before his temporary restora-
tion. I remember it was on-board the ship in which I sailed for Europe in
the spring of 1815; and it had been the subject of my contemplation but a
few days before we were surprized, in the British channel, with the incredi-
ble intelligence that Bon..parte was again upon the throne of France.

It is a bust of the emperor, seen in profile, with his hat on his head and
a star upon his breast :—

The Har represents the Prussian Eagle, who has settled upon Napoleon’s
head, and ceases to struggle for release ; his neck being twisted round, to
form, with his crest and beak, a cockade for the conqueror of the earth—
hitherto invincible.

The Face is ingeniously made out, in every feature, by the victims of his
insatiable thirst for glory, the contours of their naked limbs forming, with-
out distortion, the physiognomical traits of the unfeeling despot.

The Cotuar, which is red, typifies the effusion of bloud occasioned by
his ambition for universal dominion.

The Coat is interlined with a map, representing the Confederation of
the Rhine ; on which are delineated, particularly, all those places where
Napoleon lost battles.

The Stan on his breast is a Spider’s Web, whose threads are extended
over all Germany.

But, in the Epautetre, 1s seen the hand of the Almighty, descending

from the North, and, with a finger, leading the unconscious spider to that

destruction which awaited him among the snows of Russia; for it was nei-

A Le

ppion
good
yr the

again,
parte,
when
e this
mn. Et
orates

of the

ssuing

ss) his
th cha-

ST ene

ely, of a
ished in
restora-
urope in
oh but @
incredi-
ce.

ead and

poleon’s
yund, to
earth—

ns of his
ig, with-

ioned by

ration of
's where

xtended

scending
to that

was nei-

7 Te ET A

Three- Rivers. 53

Near Three-Rivers is an iron-foundery, which has been
worked ever since the year 1737, and the castings produced
there are uncommonly neat. The ore, it seems, lies in horizon-
tal strata, and near the surface. It is found in perforated masses,
the holes of which are filled with ochre. This ore is said to pos-
sess peculiar softness and friability. For promoting its fusion,
a grey limestone is used, which is found in the vicinity, ‘The
hammered iron from these works is pliable and tenacious, and
it has the valuable quality of being but little subject to rust.

The country is here very flat, and the soil a fine sand, mixed
with black mould. The neighbouring woods abound with elm,
ash, oak, beech,and maple, of which sugar is made in sufticient
quantities for home-consumption ; and those beautiful ever-
greens, the white pine, the cedar, and the spruce, are here in-
digenous in all their varieties.

‘No sooner had I quitted the town of Three-Rivers than I
perceived indications of being on the road to the United States.
I am sorry to say it, they were not all of them favourable to
American morals: but there was now less bowing, and more
frequent intercourse ; yet the inhabitants continued to make
themselves easy, without the trouble of sinking wells, in con-
sequence of their convenient proximity to the water; and they
still appeared to hold what we esteem necessaries, as unneces-
sary as ever.

At Machiché I delivered the letter from my young friend at
Quebec, to his worthy grandmother. I found the old lady in
a retired situation, half a mile from the road. She was de-
lighted to hear from her grandson, who, it seems, had been out
of health. She pressed me to stay to dinner—to drink some-
thing, at least; and sent for the young gentleman’s brother to
detain me. He presently came in with his dog and gun. They
resembled each other very much. They had both been in the
army, I was told, but their corp» had been disbanded. She
should make a point of letting her grandson know that I had
done him the honour to call upon her,

I must have detained the postillion half-an-hour, but he
showed no signs of impatience, and never asked me for any

ther the coalition of 1813, nor yet that of 1815, but the retreat from Mos-
cow, that annihilated the power of the tyrant, and dispelled the charm with
which he was impiously attempting to bind the destinies of Europe.

Whose powerful breath—from northern regions blown—

Touches the sea, and turns it into stone!

A sudden desart spreads o’er realms defaced,

And lays one-half of the creation waste?

64 Travels in Lower Canada.

remuneration, though he had had the trouble of opening
gates, &c.*

On approaching the riviere du Loup, I asked him if we
crossed it in a boat. “ Non pas, Monsieur! Il y a un pont
“superbe!”+ I figured to myself a model of architectural
symmetry—something like the superb elevations which have
been thrown over the Schuylkill and the Delaware. It was
a plank causeway, with a single rail on each side, to prevent
accidents.

Here I would have dined, having sedulously made choice of
the best of two inns for that purpose, but could not eat the
“ ragout de mouton, et de veau,” that was already “ tout pret,”+
when it was set before me, so completely had the meat been
deteriorated in the cooking—Allons !—Patience.—I_ took up
my hat and walked over to the church. It is under the patron-
age of St. Anthony, who stands over the portal, with the bol
child in his arms. Now I can bear to see St. Joseph, wit
his adopted son, in his hand: but to see the Babe of Bethle-
hem in the arms of St. Anthony, or any other saint in the
calendar, is too much for my spirit of toleration ; and, I will
say, it reminds me of nothing better, than going from Jeru-
salem to Jericho, and falling among thieves.

By the way, St. Joseph, a saint scarcely ever heard of, or
at least ungraciously overlooked, among us heretics in the
‘United States, is the patron of Canada; and the Virgin Mary
must be something more than mortal, at least “ Sin peccado
concebida,’”’§ as the Spaniards say.

I continued my route, by a straight road, over an extensive
flat, between large fields of wheat and barley; (soil a light
reddish earth, a little sandy) and crossing the Maskinongé, by
a handsome bridge, truly in the American style, which ap-

eared to have been just finished, to the admiration of the
neighbourhood, who were gathered about it in crowds as we
assed; I entered the town of Berthier, which consists of one
ne street, or rather row of houses, fronting an arm of the
river, which here flows round an uncultivated island; upon
which horses are suffered to run wild, until they are wanted

* I find from Bouchette, that the seigniory of Gros Bois, or Yamachiche,
was granted, in 1672, to the Sieur Boucher; and is now the property of
Louis Gugy, Esq. the eldest brother of my Quebec friend. The territory
belonging to this manor is low and flat, near the Lake; but the neighbour-
ing settlements look thrifty and comfortable. ; ,

+ No—There’s a superb bridge.

{ Ragout of mutton and veal—all ready.

§ Conceived without sin.

ening

if we
nh pont
ctural
: have
It was
revent

oice of
eat the
pret,’t
1t been
ook up
yatron-
1e hol
1, wit
Bethle-
in the
, Iwill

a Jeru-

1 of, or
in the
Mary
eccado

tensive
a light
nee, by
ich ap-
of the
Ss as we
s of one

of the
; upon
wanted

nachiche,
roperty of
b territory
heighbour-

Berthier. 55

by their owners; a Canadian practice which is supposed to
have deteriorated the breed, at least in point of size.

A number of these beautiful animals were now to be seen,
sporting themselves at large, with fantastic gambols. Now
collecting in droves, as if for purposes of sociality, or combi-
nation—Then coursing each other over the plains, in every
variety of pace and attitude, perfectly happy in the absence
of cruel man.

Horses, however, are much better treated in Canada than
they are in the United States; where, to our shame be it
spoken, these generous animals, to whose labours we are so
much indebted, and who are as docile to our wills as they are
serviceable to our occasions, are often hardly used by carters
and stage-drivers ; and sometimes shamefully abused in the
wantonness of power. I have often wished that some protec-
tion could be extended, by the magistrate, to prevent their un-
necessary sufferings. And, surely, it must be in the power of
stage-owners to prevent their teams from being injured, as
they often are, by the dangerous and fool-hardy competition
of headstrong and unfeeling drivers.

The soil is here rich, (a fine vegetable earth, upon a sub-
stratum of strong clay.) It is well cultivated, and the prospect
of an abundant harvest is now very promising.

The road kept its course along the side of the great river,
and I lodged this night upon its bank, at a lone house near
La Noraye.

Observing a good many young’ people about, IT asked my
landlord, (who took me on next morning himself, and was a
sedate, substantial farmer,) how many children he had? Nine
was the answer. Some of them married. “ Ah! Monsieur,”
said he, “ C’est terrible comme les familles se grossissent ici.’’*
I remarked the favourable appearance of the grain. It looked
well this year, he said, but the last season the crops had been
very scanty, particularly below Three-Rivers, where I had
already observed, that the true climate, soil, and manners of
Canada Proper, or Lower Canada, appear to be marked by
a definitive line.

“ Avez vous la disette quelque fois, a Philadelphie, Mon-
“ sieur 2”'F

This simple question, at such a distance from that favoured
soil and climate, where the annual enjoyment of plenty is too
familiar to be remarked, excited in my breast the most lively
sensations of gratitude to Heaven; bringing to mind the un-

——

* Ah, Sir, it’s terrible to think how families increase here.
+ Have you the scarcity sometimes at Philadelphia, Sir?

56 Travels in Lower Canada.

merited superabundance with which we have been uninter-
oe favoured, from the first settlement of our “ happy
and,

Two caléches now approached us, at a rapid rate; the first
of them with two horses, which is very uncommon in Canada,
and between its broad and lofty ears sat a well-fed ecclesi-
astic. It was the curate of Maskinongé, returning from Mon-
treal, where he had been with a neighbouring brother of the
cloth (who was reading as we passed him, or appearing to read,
without ever raising his eyes from his book) to pay his devoirs
to the bishop ; who was about going on a visit to Quebec.

We now entered a beautiful oak wood, extending for half a
mile, on both sides of the way. Expressing my admiration of
this grateful shade, (this being the only wood through which
the road passes between Quebec and Montreal; though an un-
broken forces bounds the horizon at no great distance the
whole way,) I was assured that “ Tous les généraux et les
“ messieurs Angilois l’admiroient infiniment.”*

It belongs to a Seigneurie, of which we saw the manor.
house, called La Valterie, on quitting the road. We stopped
hard by at a decent inn, about which a few isolated silver
pines had been judiciously preserved ; and in the garden were
some of the finest roses I have ever seen. On alighting, I ran
to treat myself, for a moment, with their delightful smell, and
was politely invited to help myself to as many of them as I
chose tu take; upon which I stuck one of them into my button-
hole, and rode into Montreal, with this rural decogation, as
the peasants here frequently do, with flowers stuck in their
hats.

From this enchanting spot, (for it was on a gentle eminence,
from whose airy brow an open green descended to the river,
which was now sparkling at its foot with the cheerful play of
morning sun-beams,) I was taken forward in a style of the
same pastoral simplicity, by a delicate-looking youth, whose
manners and appearance resembled nothing more remotely
than the audacity of a European postillion.

A stage or two before I had boon conducted by a boy of
eleven years old, who told me he had already driven three,
and must therefore have begun to hold the reins at the tender
age of eight years. I could not but congratulate myself on
the child’s having had some years’ practice before he took
charge of me. Immediately on our arrival at the next stage,
he was saluted by a chum, in the most affectionate manner
imaginable, and the two boys went off together, arm in arm,

* All the generals, and the English gentlemen, admired it prodigiously.

ninter-
happy

re first
anada,
bcclesi-
Mon-
of the
o read,
evoirs
ec.
r halfa
tion of
» which
an un-
ce the
et les

manore
stopped
H silver
en were
y, I ran
ell, and
em as I
button-
ition, as
in their

ninence,
he river,
| play of
e of the
, whose
emotely

a boy of
n three,
e tender
self on

e took
Kt stage,
manner
.in arm,

NS

ligiously.

St. Sulpice. 57

like two students at college, instead of professors of the

whip.

Now, however, taking boat at St. Sulpice, to cross over to the
island of Montreal, IT fell into the hands ofa surly fellow, the
only post-boy on the whole route who had ever been out of
humour with his horse, or showed the least signs of dissatis-
faction with himself, or any thing about him; though both
horse and chaise, at the post-houses below Three-Rivers,
had often looked as if a put of wind might have blown them
away, and T often thought what a show the antiquated harness
and long-eared vehicle would have made for the dnished coach-
makers of Philadelphia.

On this passaye, an elegant mansion-house presents itself
at some distance to the right, and a newtavern, in the neat,
two-story, low-roofed, American style, is beheld with pleasing
anticipations by the returning Columbian.

It is, I believe, or rather was, an appendage of the new
bridges, which were constructed over the different branches
of the river, that here separate the adjacent islands from the
main land, and which were intended eventually to supersede
this tedious ferry, by connecting Montreal, on the north side,
with the adjoining shore.

But the projectors of this laudable undertaking had for-
gotten to consult their climate, or to obtain security from the
Great River, as the Indians expressively call it. Accordingly,
after serving the intended purpose, through the following
winter, they were carried off bodily by the ice, when “ the
roused-iip river”* swept away every obstacle to his passage,
in the spring.

This idea of bridging the St. Lawrence, even where ap-
proaching islands invite the attempt, is for the present totally
abandoned. Yet [ have no doubt that it will be tried again,
and that with success, when adventurous New-Englanders
shall have taken that ascendency at Montreal which the
Scotch have hitherto enjoyed.

The ferrymen here vented their passions, as watermen seem
to be every where particularly apt to do, in seurrilous provo-
catives. Every other word was foutre, or diantre ; and every
thing that thwarted their humour was béte! and bougre! and
sacré matin !

We met nothing on the road, after we reached the island,
but a solitary caléche or a market-cart, or a foot-passenger, at
distant intervals, as we drove forward five or six miles, by a
country church and a tavern. It was the sign of the Three

a

* Thomson.

Voyvacre and Travers, No. 2. Vol. HT. I

a

58

Travels in Lower Canada.

Kings, which is here a favourite emblem, as well as in Ger-
many ; though the eastern sages are here so ludicrously trans-
mografied that I did not at first recognize the allusion.

MONTREAL.

As we entered the town it had become very hot. I was
disappointed in the comforts of the French hotel, to which I
had been directed.— Did not think it worth while to change
even for the mansion-house, late the residence of Sir Jobn
Johnson. Tired myself almost off my legs with perambulat-
ing the streets and lanes—Suffered excessively with the heat,
(to my conviction that it might occasionally be hot in Canada)
and would have set out immediately for New York, if I should
not have been too early for the next steam-boat.

The thermometer was now, on the 19th day of July, at
ninety-six degrees of Fahrenheit. Reaumur was quoted at an
ale-house where I stopped for refreshment, at twenty-eight
and three-quarters, which answers to ninety-seven of Fahren-
heit, a degree.of heat at which spermaceti melts, and at the
next elevation of the scale ether boils.

In the evening, however, I cooled myself delightfully in a
floating-bath that is moored off Windmill Point; and the next
morning my spirits were restored by writing home and mak-
ing the necessary preparation for my approaching departure,
which was to be the next day: the weather having in the
mean time become very cool and pleasant, after refreshing
showers 5 a change which I had predicted at the table d’hote,
from the very extremity of the heat, agreeable to the well-
known remark with us, that extreme weather seldom lasts
Jonger than three days. But I did not find that the opinion
gained confidence. It appeared to have heretofore escaped
observation ; nor did any one notice the fulfilment of the pre-
diction hut myself when it took place, as it usually happens
with voluntary prognostications,

But a French confectioner, at whose house I ealled occasi-
onally, had known the thermometer at Pondicherry as high as
a hundred and two. He was a man of observation, and re-
marking my full habit, he recommended me to drink Lisbon
wine, rather than Madeira, because Lisbon will bear the sea,
whereas Madeira will not, -without a powerful admixture of
brandy. This, it seems, is usually infused immediately after
the fermentation takes place, and before it is refined with
isinglass; but the operation is often performed in England,
whence the term, London particular Madeira, as it will bear
the short voyage to that cold climate; but, if sent pure to the
neighbouring hot countries, it would infallibly turn sour. I¢

_ Viving

ever, a

fa reg
climate

He «
wines,
termix'
will liv
nen, W
die acc

I no
Montre
those o
souther
of anti
mostly,
shall |
fresh in

"

in the |
street |
of the

though
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on one

The
obtaine
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session
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consist

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Rhine,
he had
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our prim

P.

" Montreal. : “60

ts regularly brandied, it seems, more or less, according to the
climate it is to go to,

He drank himself nothing but port, claret, and the Spanis!
wines, which will all bear the sea, without the pernicious in-
termixture of Cogniac. Tt is thus, says he, a Prenchman
will live in a hot climate to a hundred years; whilst [ngtish-
men, who persist in drinking Madeira between the tropics,
die accordingly at sixty.”

I now gave myself time to visit the religious institutions of
Montreal, which are no less numerous and extensive than
those of Quebec, though they are far less interesting to a
southern visitor, having mostly lost that venerable appearance
of antiquity which characterizes those of the capital. I say
mostly, because there is one antiquated exception, which I
shall proceed to designate, while its chilling eftect is still
fresh in my recollection, It is

THE CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF THE RECOLLETS,

in the outskirts of Montreal. Nothing presents itself to the
street but the dingy fagade of the shane and the outer walls
of the cloisters, which are still overshaduwed by coeval elms,
though the precincts have been given up to the use of the
troops in garrison, ever since the decease of the last sur-

_viving incumbent. Only the chapel, and the school-rooms

on one side of it, have been reserved for religious purposes.

The great door is accordingly no longer opened; but I
obtained admission at the wicket, by the favour of a lay-
brother, who had been sent for from the country, to retain pos-
session of the premises, upon the demise of the last of the friars,
He, poor soul, is content to wear alone the cowl of the order,
to gird himself with a rope, and walk barefoot in solitary
singularity. The good monk informed me, with a face of
unconscious simplicity, that he was labouring to restore the

x

church, (Il travailloit 4 la restaurer.) He did not, how-

ever, accompany me in; and I found that his restorations

consisted in some tinsel lamps, which he had hung up before
‘ — ees a =: eee

* This adventurer had been in the campaigns of Moreau, upon the
Rhine, from thence to the East Indies, thence to the United States, where
he had married, and was now lately transferred to Montreal, for the benefits
of Catholic communion. His name was Girard, spelt exactly as it is by his
countryman, that eminent merchant, who has raised in Philadelphia a for-
tune of I know not how many millions, and is now sole proprietor of one of
our priacipal banks, and owner of half-a-dozen Tudiamen.

60 Travels in Lower Canada.

the altar, but their lights were gone out. I found the walls f

dark with age, and dreary with neglect and desertion. ie
'? This chapel is very lofty, in proportion to its other dimen- ee
| sions, which are not great. The windows are at a height of .
| twenty feet from the floo ; and the dingy intervals were hiwce: ”

neither with crucifixes nor Madonnas, but with ecstasies of St. @

Francis, and prostrations of Petrus Recollectus.

had upon its folding-doors the memento mori, which makes so

little impression upon callous survivors, “ Aujourd-hui pour
moi, demain pour vous.”’+

A mile further on, I marked the castellated mansion of the

Seigneurie, which belongs to the seminary of this place. It

|

t

Pursning my walk into the country, more sensible than
ever of the cheerfulness of open air and day-light, 1 soon id
came across the general burying-ground, which is, by a late |
law of the British Government, without the town, none but oS
the priests being now allowed to be buried in the cities of lif
Canada, the health of which was supposed to have been en-
dangered by the multitudes of bodies, which were formerly he
crowded together in confined places, insufficiently covered 4
over.
Here wasa chapel and a corpse house, the one was recom- re
i} mended to the particular care of St. Anthony, by an inscrip- al
ni tion over-head, (St. Anthoine, priez pour nous)* and the other i
i

has all the peculiarities of an old French chateau. There
are round towers on each side of the gate-way, which are said
to have been fortified in the ancient Indian wars, and loop-
holes are still discernible in them, at a secure elevation: for
there was an Indian village at this place, when the French b
| arrived, in 1640, the displacing of which was an early cause
| | ‘ of sanguinary conflicts. 1
: :

Directly back of this curious specimen of the specious in-
conveniencies of antiquated abodes is the isolated mountain,
which rises abruptly in the plain of Montreal. Its summit

Po is still covered with thick woods; but the descent upon the
i) other side is highly cultivated and beautifully picturesque,
4 being thickly strewed with villages and spires, interspersed
a with wood and water,

|

}

* St. Anthony, pray for us,
+ To-day for me, to-morrow for you; or, in other words, so often re-
peated upon moralizing tombstones,
As I am now, so you must be,
Prepare for death, and follow me.

b walls

imen-
ght of

ung,
s of St.

e than
soon
a late
ve but
ties of
ren en~
rmerly
overed

ecom~
scrip-~
p Other
nkes so
i pour

of the
e. It
There
4 said
‘loop-
mn: for
“rench
- cause

us in-
intain,
ummit
on the
esque,
versed

ten re-

Montreal. 6l

At a considerable height on this mountain may be seen,
from the streets of Montreal, a large house, with wings of
hewn stone, and a monumental pillar appears in the woods
behind it. The house was built, it seems, some years ago, by
the oldest partner in the firm of Mc Tavish and Me Gillivray,
(a Scotch fiolise’) long the principal proprietors of the North-
West Trading Company. Mc Tavish died whilst the house
was building, and his nephews, the Mc Gillivrays, declining
to finish the house, erected this monument to his memory.
There is nothing remarkable in the inscription; but the
ee itself is a striking memento of the uncertainties of
ife.

The heirs of the estate prefer spending it in the city, and
have built themselves fine houses in the eastern suburbs,
where they are said to keep hospitable tables, especially for
their countrymen from Scotland, of whom such numbers have
resorted hither, ever since the conquest, that Montreal, origin-
ally French, was in danger of becoming a Scotch colony,
before it began to be over-run by the still more hardy and
more adventurous sons of New England.

NORTH-WESTERN TRADE,

From the village of La Chine, which is situated at the
upper end of the island, merchandise intended for Upper
Canada, together with military stores and presents for the
Indians, are embarked in flat-bottomed boats, to proceed up
the St. Lawrence; but the fur-trade is carried on by the
North-West Company, through the Ottawa, or Grand River,
by means of birch canoes. These are made so light that they
may he easily carried up the banks of rapids, or across necks
of land. Of these carrying places, there are reckoned no
less than six-and-thirty between Montreal and the New set-
tlement on Lake Superior, called Kamanastigua, Accord-
ingly, the wares to be sent out are put up in snug packages,
and the return of furs comes back in solid packs, which the
voyageurs carry on their backs at the different portages.*

ey

* The canoes employed in this trade are about thirty feet long, and six
wide. They are sharp at each end: the frame is composed of siender ribs
of some light wood, which are covered with narrow strips of the bark of
the birch-tree, about haif-a-quarter of an inch in thickness, These are
sewed or stitched together with threads, made of the fibres of certain roots,
well twisted together; and the joints are made water-tight by a species of
gum, that adheres firmly, and becomes perfectly hard when dry. No iron-
work is used in them of any description, not even nails. When complete,
these fragile barks weigh no more than five huiniic? pounds,

62

About a thousand persons are supposed to be employed in
this occupation, who, spending most of their time at a distance
from home, contract habits of idleness in the midst of hard-
ships, and become so attached to a wandering and useless
life, that they rarely establish themselves in society.

The fare of these poor fellows is of the meanest quality,
being mostly nothing better than bear’s grease and Indian
meal, which is made up into a sort of broth, requiring little
cookery; and they beguile the tediousness of their progress
with songs to the Virgin, the solemn strains of which, in the
darkness of night, when different parties of these poor pil-
grims overhear each other, have a very impressive effect
amid these desert wilds. When I have occasionally heard
them myself, they reminded me of Christian overhearing
Faithful, when they were passing, unknown to each other,
through the valley of the shadow of death.

The distance from Montreal to the upper end of Lake
Huron is nine hundred miles, and the journey usually con-
sumes three weeks. A number of the men remain all winter
in those remote and comfortless regions, employed in hunt-
ing and packing up skins, That of the beaver is, it seems,
among Indians, the medium of barter. According to usage
immemorial, ten beaver-skins are given for a gun, one for a
pound of powder, and one for two pounds of glass-beads.

The river Michipicoton, one of the thirty or forty streams
which supply Lake Superior with its chrystalline waters, in-
terlocks the territories of Hudson’s Bay; and it has been the
scene of frequent disputes about property and jurisdiction,
between the subjects of the same prince (carrying on the
same traffic, in that remote corner of the globe) under the
authority of different patents from the crown, The Hudson’s
Bay Company, it seems, are compensated for the hardships
of their frozen colony, by its superior readiness of access,
which enables them to undersell the tardy voyageurs of the
North West Company, who are obliged to make their way
up the rivers, and across the lakes of Canada.

Travels in Lower Canada,

THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CANADA

is chiefly confined to the different ports of London and Glas-
gow for the various articles of British manufacture, and to
the West Indies for the productions of the tropics; a solitary
ship or two being now and then dispatched for the brandies,
oils, and wines of the south of Europe; for which they return
lumber, furs, wheat, and flour, beef and pork, pot and pearl-~

yed in
istance

f hard-

seless

juality,
Indian
o little
ogress
in the
or pil-

effect
heard
earing
other,

Lake
y con-
winter

hunt-
seems,
usage
e fora
Is.
treams
rs, In-
en the
iction,
mn the
er the
dson’s
Iships
iecess,
f the
r way

Glas-
nd to
litary
ndies,
eturn
yearl~

Montreal. 63

ash, some horses and cattle, hemp and flax-seed, ginseng, and
castor-oil, &c. Ship-building is also carried on at Quebec to
a considerable extent; but the balance of trade would be
much against Canada, if it were not for the sums annually
expended by Government upon fortifications, and the pay-
ment of the troops.

In the year 1795, at which time wheat and flour commanded
unusual prices in Europe, no fewer than one hundred
and twenty-eight vessels arrived in the Si. Lawrence from
foreign parts, amounting to nineteen thousand tons, and
navigated by upwards of athousand men. A still larger
exportation of grain (much of it, by the way, received from
the neighbouring states) took place in 1799, and the three
following years. The quantity of flour shipped in 1802 was
thirty-eight thousand barrels; and the wheat is said to have
exceeded a million of bushels.

EXPENSES OF GOVERNMENT.

The colonial revenues that year amounted to thirty-one
thousand pounds, and the expenditures of Government
exceeded forty-three thousand; so little’ profitable is the
sovereignty of Canada to the kingdom of Great Britain.

So much for eivil government. The military peace es-
tablishment, about five thousand men, can hardly be supported
ata less expence than two or three hundred thousands ster-
ling. Extraordinaries, such as erecting new fortifications,
the repair of old ones, allowances for waste and peculation,
with other incidental expenses, may be one or two more
hundreds of thousands. But in time of war, when the latter
items are always increased beyond all calculation or credi-
bility, (witness our own experience during the late war) the
sums laid owt upon Canada must amount to at least as many
millions ; to say nothing of the naval armaments which pro-
tect, and the transports which convey, fresh troops across the
Atlantic.

It is to these circumstances mainly, that Canada owes her
apparent prosperity. She fattens on the wealth of Britain;
and the most refined policy would dictate to the United
States to leave the unprofitable possession to burn a hole in
the pockets of its possessor.

As for Upper Canada, it is, in fact, an American settle-
ment—the surplus population of the state of New-York; and
it will, sooner or later, fall into our hands, by the operation
of natural causes, silent but sure; or if we should become too
wise to extend our unlimited territory, a powerful colony of

ei ee mean

64

American blood must in time become an independent nation,
and will naturally be to us an amicable neighbour.

Hitherto the ships employed in foreign commerce have
persisted in ascending the great river to Montreal, in spite
of the currents, rapids, rocks, and shoals, which opposed their
course, and rendered it as difficult and dangerous as the open
sea, In some instances, when the winds likewise have been
unfavourable, they are said to have been as long getting up
this part of the river, as they had been in crossing the At-
Jantic; I have myself seen a fleet of sixteen sail stemming
the current in sight of Montreal, for hours together, without
advancing a furlong. But the invention of steam-boats is
likely to produce a total change in the system of trade. There
are already three of these boats running, whose principal ob-
ject is freight; and a fourth has just been finished, of the
burthen of seven hundred tons. These boats will, it is sup-
posed, eventually supersede the necessity of sea vessels
ascending higher than Quebec; where they will probably,
in future, unload their cargoes, and take in the returns. One
vessel, however, may perhaps be allowed to keep the run as
long as she lasts, She was built on purpose for this difficult
navigation, and draws but twelve feet water, though of five
hundred tons burthen, having made the tedious voyage suc-
cessively for one-and-twenty years.

Sabbath-day now occurring for the third time since I en-
tered Canada, and probably the last, I took the opportunity
which I had before souglit, without success, to attend morn-
ing’ prayers at

Travels in Lower Canada,

THE CHAPEL OF THE DAMES NOIRS,

a charitable institution, which was founded by the piety of a
Duchess of Bouillon, in 1644. I now found the sisterhood
sitting, or rather kneeling, in a long oratory, ranging on the
left with the church of the hospital, and through an open
window they could be seen as I approached it, in long pros-
tration before the altar.

The church was crowded with a motley congregation of the
meanes. looking people that can well be imagined, (I speak
not of dress, for they were decently clad, but of person and
countenance.) Being naturally a physiognomist, i could not
ea remarking the various kinds and degrees of weakness
and simplicity which were strongly marked upon their fea-
tures. ‘There was not one face among the hundred that was
lighted up with any indications of refinement, sensibility, or

eg oe OD Dt

ation,

have

spite
| their

open
b been
o u
S Kes
ming
ithout
bats 1s
here
al ob-
bf the
s sup-
essels
bably,
One
run as
ifficult
of five
e suc-

I en-
‘tunity
morn-

, of a
rhood
ym the
| open
pros-

of the
speak
n and
Id not
ikkness
ir fea~
it was
ity, or

Montreal. 65

reflection. The priest himself was little better than his flock;
and I could not forbear the ready comparison of the blind
oe the blind; though I dare to say, they were every one
of them .

Much too wise to walk into a well.—Pope.

I looked over one of their books, and found that they were
reciting what is called the office of the Virgin; among the
innumerable clauses of which, I was soon disgusted with that
sacrilegious one of

Dei genitrix intercede pro Nobis,*

as if we were not expressly told in the Scriptures of truth,
the written word, that Christ himself stands “at the right
hand of the Father, making intercession for the sins of the
world;” and that “there is no other name given under heaven
by which we can be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth.” ‘The changes were rung, however, at the same
time »pon
Dominus—Domine— Domino ;+

and before the audience were dismissed, we had the Dominus
Vobiscum from the priest, with the response from the people,
(whether they understood it or not)

Et cum spirito tuo,
which was followed by

Oremus.
In Soecula Soeculorum—
Amen. §

The perpetual repetitions of the Catholic ritual have cer-
tainly astupifying influence upon the human mind, inasmuch
as they occupy the place of reflection, if they do not even
exclude it; yet I have no doubt but that many good people
have found their way to heaven through this bye-path, in the
long course of seventeen hundred years, from the early cor-
ruption of Christianity; and I copied with pleasure, from the
walls of this benighted cell, the following modest and edifying
inscription:

* Mother of God! pray for us!

+ The name of the Lord.

t And with thy Spirit.

§ Let us pray, for ever and ever. Amen.

Vovacrs and Travis, Vo. 2. Vol. IIT. K

Travels in Lower Cunada.
Cy git a
venerable Demoiselle, y
, Jeanne Lebel, fl
Fi - bienfaitrice de cette Maison ; M
) qui, ayant été Recluse bi

quinze ans, i
dans la maison de ses pieux Parens, 1
en a passe vingt, t
. dans la retraite qu’ elle a faite ici
Elle est décédée n
le 3 d ’Octobre tl
1714, a
agée de cinquante deux ans.* t!
-. p
I remember nothing else particularly in this chapel, but m
that the great window opening into the nuns’ oratory was te
i lazed, instead of being grated, and no curtain drawn, so that a
+ the sisters could be seen by the audience at their own altar. c
lI There was a picture of some Catholic missionary among the .
ai Heathen, St. Francis Xavier, or some other legendary pre- m
a tender to apostolic zeal, holding up a crucifix by way of
preaching the cross—not surely that which was “to the Jews Hl

a stumbling block, and to the wise Greeks foolishness ;” for
that was declared to be nothing less than the “ power of God,
and the wisdom of God, in all them that believe and obey the lg
Gospel.” h

THE GREY NUNS.

From this place I went to the Grey Sisters, or General
aay Hospital, which is a little way out of the town. This chapel ;

hii is richly ornamented by the piety of the fair devotees; and it

has this interesting peculiarity, that the arched entrances of t
the cross aisles are unincumbered either by grates or doors,

* Here lies

that venerable Lady,

" | Jeanne Lebel, t
lt a benefactress of this House; t
|} who having been a Recluse .

ya fifteen years,

: i in the house of her pious Parents,
{
t
)

passed twenty .
in the retirement of this place.

i She deceased
aed i the 3d of October,
Bi Mi 1714,
aged fifty-two years,

Montreal. 67

and the corresponding windows run down to the floor, so that
you see through them the burying-ground on one side, and a
flower-garden on the other, in which pinks and poppies, with
yellow lilies, and other showy flowers, unite, very happily,
with the golden hues of the altar, the crucifix of which is of
ivory, in producing a rich glow of solemn colouring, reminding
the traveller of the vivid reflection from painted windows in
the gothic edifices of the north of Europe.

These sisters have the care of the tanaile: as well as the
maimed and the infirm. A heavy task it seemed to me; but
they appeared to show me every thing with pleasure; partly
at least, we may suppose, (without discrediting any sentiment
that excites to love and good works) arising from self-ap-
probation. I declined entering the lunatic ward, the sad
objects of which are, I think, every where too freely exposed
to public view, and would gladly have omitted that of the
aged and infirm; but I could not so readily get clear of my
conductress, to whom I had given something for the orphan
children (Enfants trouvés) who are received here without
anquiry or objection.

asked the sister who bad the superintendence of this de-
Meh pa (a chatty old woman, who seemed determined to
1old me a while in conversation,) whether her patients ever lived
to a great age.—She said, not often; but that one had died
lately, aged ninety-eight, and another some years ago, ata
hundred and ten. I asked if they were natives of Canada.
“ Non, Monsieur, c’etoient des Frangois. Les vieux Francois
ont de bons estomacs.” *

Thus I found the ancient prejudice that old countrymen
born, live longer than the native Americans, prevails here, as
well as with us; because, for many years, it was observed that
there were more instances of old people who were born else-
where, than of such as were born in America. Although it is
obvious, that as the first comers were not born here, but came
over from the European continent, most of them at mature
age, there could not at first, in the nature of things, be so
many natives dying of old age, as there would be of old coun-
try born. Yet with usin Pennsylvania, be it remembered,
that the first child born of English parents lived to be eighty-
five. Several of our natives born have since turned a hundred,
These, it has been observed, have been chiefly women.—But
one is now living, at the town of Beaver, on the Ohio, who was

* No, Sir, they were Frenchmen. The old French have excellent con-
stitutions. fs
K 2

4
"|
{

¢€s Travels in Lower Canada.

boru in New Jersey in 1686, within a very few years of the
first settlement of the province. Well, therefore, might our
patriarch Franklin say, when, during his long agency at Lon-
dor, he was pressed to tell whether people lived as long in
America as they du in England, “I donot know—for the first
settlers are notall dead yet.”

The most frequent instances of longevity may now be ob-
served to occur in the most old settled parts, such as Virginia,
and the New England States; and for this plain reason, that
it is there that there were most children to take a chance for it
a century agoe The comparative numbers of old people in
any country, is vot to be made upon the population of those
countries when they died, but when they were born. It is well
known that whilst most of the towns in the Old World have
increased but little within the period of a long life, the oldest
towns in America have dcubledand quadrupled, some of them
ten or twenty-fold.

It appears by the London bills of mortality, for thirty years,
viz. from 1728 to 1758, that out of seven banded and fifty
thousand deaths which took place in that city, there were two
hundred and forty-two persons who had survived their hun-
dredth year. This is something over one for every three
thousand, which was more than half of the whole number of
Whabitants in Philadelphia a hundred years ago. If, therefore,

ti Xe Philadelphia bills now show two centenarians in a year,
(w. ‘ich they invariably a is sufficient to place us on a similar

seale © With the city of London. And if that proportion is
greatl exceeded in Russia, according to the annual bills for
that ext %=sive empire, let it be remembered, that large deduc-
tions ma, ” Pe safely made from the accounts furnished by the
illiterate p Pes and papas of a nation, the interior of which is
yet but halt civilized, and which, a bundred and fifty years
ago, was little ‘Sikely to be very correct about births and dates..

Let us hear , °° "res therefore, of the groundless presump-
tion that people, \¥® longer in Europe than they do in America.
It is not the fault « vf our climate, nor our soil, if we do not live
as long here as ina "Y part of the world; though the general
participation of the lu ‘xuries, as well as of the necessaries of life,
may oftener prevent. \ vith us the natural term of existence
among that class of peo le, the hard-working poor, which most
frequently in all countries, ™*!¥** at the utmost period of human.

ife.
THE CATHE pRAL OF MONTREAL.

I now went tothe cathedral, which has been lately new fitted
up, gilded and painted in the most glittering style imaginable.

Montreal. 69

This building is neither so long nor so high as the cathedral
of Quebec; and it makes avery plain appearance outside,
standing as it does in the middle of the principal avenue, which
leads round it, on the north side, across a public square. But
no expence has been spared upon the interior, nor has any idea
of Christian simplicity been suffered to check the exuberance
of fancy in the decorations of the choir.

1 found the tribune of this church particularly offensive to
my orthodoxy, as the great crucifix does not occupy its proper
station (can it be possible that it should have been removed
toa side isle, where it now stands?) in the centre of the tribune,
the appropriate situation which it invariably retains in our
Philadelphia chapels (which, by the way, are a good deal new-
modelled by the benefit of pee pric, mtedaent and ex-
ample) to make room for a statue of the Virgin—not as usual
with the child in her arms, which could alone countenance the
impropriety, but in the elegant contours of a Grecian female
(it might pass as well for a Juno or a Ceres) standing in a
niche above the altar; whilst Corinthian columns, fluted in
green and gold, and surmounted with curved scrolls of the same
glittering materials, support over her head a crown richly gilt.

Is not this worshipping the creature more than the Creator?
Yet we are told, that “the Lord our God is a jealous God, who
will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven
images.” Alas! that the professors of the first Christian church,
instead of leaving those things that were behind; and, going
on unto perfection, should fall short of the ancient Jews, under
the shadowy dispensation of the Law. They were forbidden
to make unto themselves the likeness of any thing in heaven or
upon earth, to worship if. There was accordingly (we are told
by St. Paul, a Hebrew proselyte of the tribe of Benjamin)
nothing contained in the Ark of the Covenant (beside the Tables
of the Law) save a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, that budded
in the presence of Pharaoh; which things were preserved for a
memorial to succeeding generations of the wonders which the
Lord had wrought in Egypt, for the deliverance of his chosen
people: and to this day, the Jews have nothing in their taber-
nacles but a copy of the Law, which is produced before the
people every Sabbath-day; not to be worshipped, but merely
to be commemorated and obeyed. This cathedral is dedicated
to Notre Dame, rather than to God Almighty; and the per-
petual recurrence of Ave Marias all over the building, shows
indeed too plainly that this is a temple dedicated, in the first
place to the Virgin Mary, in the second to Jesus Christ.*

* Itis truly and excellently spoken of Seneca, says Lactantius, “ Con-
sider the majosty, the goodness, and the adorable mercics of the Almighty =

70 Travels in Lower Canada.

Even St. Peter, with his keys, has been here obliged to give
way to the exclusive pretensions of the Virgin.—None but
saints of their own making have been able to stand the too
powerful competition here. (They worship the work of their
own hands, that which their own fingers have made.) In the
side chapels, opposite to the altars of the favourite divinity,
the curious stranger may find a St. Francis, or a St. An-
thony, in garments of snckoabeths, gaunt and ghastly, who have
been permitted to pay their obeisance to the incarnation; but
every close, and every open compartment throughout the aisles
and galleries of this—I will not call it Christian temple, ex-
hibits the name (must I say of the idol of its adoration ?)
in which, in a single cipher, are interwoven the letters M, A,
for the name of Maria, and V, for the attribute of Virginity.

Apropo of keys—I do not myself regret the absence of the
Prince of the Apustles, as they call bim at Rome.—I think St.
Peter has kept the keys of Heaven's Wicket* long enough,

since they were first given, not to him as a man, subject, as the
history abundautly testifies, to like passions with hie fellow-
creatures, but to the revelation which he had received in com-
mon with other believers. —And hissuccessor, like the dog in the
manger, will neither enter in himself, nor suffer them that would.

But Pius VIT. with all bis briefs and his bulls, (even if they

his pleasure lies not in the magnificence of temples made with stone, but
in the piety and devotion of consecrated hearts.” And in the book that this
same Heathen Philosopher wrote against superstitions, treating of those
who worshipped images, St. Austin observes, he writes thus: ‘ They re-
present the holy, the immortal, and the invisible Gods, with the basest
materials, and without life or motion, in the forms of men.”—* All these
things,” contiunes the ancient Sage, “a wise man will observe for the
law’s sake more than for that of the gods; and all this rabble of deities, which
the superstition of many ages has gathered together, we are in such manner
to adore,” says Seneca, (darkly, as one who could yet only see men as trees)
‘as to consider their worship to be rather matter of custom than of con-
science.”—Eow much farther did this enlightencd Heathen penetrate into
the nature of spiritual worship than those who venerate images? or at least
make use of such representations in Christian churches, as the means of
heightening religious fervour.

But Christians have no occasion for heathen authorities against outward
temples and symbolic worship. “ For the Lord God,” said David, “ dwell-
eth not in temples made with hands ;” not surely then in a consecrated host,
at the command of a sinful priest, to bring forth as a God, or to put away as
a thing of nought. “ What house will ye build me? saith the Lord, or where
is the place of my rest?” Yet this was the same munificent potentate that
prepared, before his death, for the house that was to be built in Jerusalem
for the God of Heaven, a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand
thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight or number.

# Milton,

0 give
e but
1e too
’ their
In the
vinity,
. An-
» have
13 but
aisles
le, eX-
tion ?)
M, A,
rinity.
af ihe
nk St.
10uzh,
as ihe
fellow-
1 com-
' in the
would.
if they

yne, but
that this
of those
They re-
> basest
Il these
for the
3, Which
manner
as trees)
of con-
rate into
‘at least
leans of

outward
** dwell-
ted host,
away as
or where
ate that
rusalem
housand
mber.

Montreal. 71

should again be seconded by the thunder of the Vatican) can-
not prevent the candle, which has been lighted by the Bible
Societies, from ne put upon the candlestick, no more to
be hid under a bed or under a bushel. The Scriptures of
Truth will at length be circulated throughout the habitable
globe; and there will be, if I may be allowed the comparison,
asecond preaching of the Gospel among all nations.

In this dark cathedral (I speak of spiritual darkness, for this
church is as brilliant asa bites the trade of auricular
confession is more extensively carried on than in any gothic
edifice I ever was in, and I have been in many of them in my
time, in the most bigoted countries in Europe. I suppose
there are not less than twenty confessionals around the walls,
at which penitents are occasionally seen ringing the bells, to
call their favourite confessors to the seat of judgment; and
priests, in their white vestments, are to be seen pacing the
— to answer these incessant requisitions every hour in
the day.

This magnificent edifice was now crowded to overflowing ;
not with the populace merely, many of whom having no seats
in the church stood bare-headed about the door, or kneeled
upon the steps, it being impossible for them all to get in. But
the choir was lined with priests and chaunters in white. The
Black nuns were there, and the Grey Nuns were there, (though
they have all churches of their own to go to)—nay, I found
my old monk assisted here, instead of attending to his res-
torations at the Recollets, making a grostesque appearance,
amidst glittering gew-gaws, in his coarse gown and hood, which
was thrown back to discover his shaven crown. Jn short, it
seemed as if the hierarchy had mustered all its forces,

Black, white, and grey, with all their trumpery ;
Cowls, hoods, and habits.

There was, however, a sermon to countenance this universal
assemblage, which was declared by an old woman that sat
next me, (between one pinch of snuff and another) to be un
beau sermon. But I shall not give myself the trouble to re-
port any part of it; for the next morning, seeing a Catholic
catechism in a bookseller’s window, I asked to look at it, and
returned it with evident indignation, as soon as I came to the
following passage, which is worthy of the intolerant spirit of
the darkest ages:
Demande. Y a-t’-il plusieurs eglises Catholiques ?*

ene ec etrancn T SSELESLO LI

* Question: Are there. several Catholic churches ?

(72 Travels in Lower Canada.

Reponse. Non. II n’y ade Catholiques que la seule Eglise
Romaine. Hors de laquelle il n’y a point de salut.*

Demande. Que faut il donc penser de ces autres Societés
qui se nomment Eglises, et ne professent pas la méme foi que
nous ? ou ne sont pas soumises aux mémes pasteurs ?+

Reponse. Elles sont des institutions humaines, qui ne ser-
Mh qu’ 4 egarer les hommes, et ne sauroient les conduire a

ieu.t

But let me not involve myself in darkness till I become
myself uncharitably blind. Adjoining to this cathedral is the
extensive edifice called the Seminary, which was here insti-
tuted in the year 1657 by the Abbé Quetus, and a deputation
: teachers from the celebrated brotherhood of St. Sulpice, at
Paris.

The present superiors of this noble institution, with other
clergymen, particularly of the dignified class, are said to be
men of great learning and exemplary piety, who confine them-
selves, with the most self-denying strictness, to the exercise of
their religious duties, and lead irreproachable lives ; deprived
as they are, by their stations, of the inestimable comforts of
female society.

This seminary of learning is chiefly designed for the educa~
tion of the priesthood ; but others are admitted into this truly
Catholic college, even Protestant children, from whom confor-
mity is not exacted. To this excellent institution is attached
an extensive garden, with shady avenues for air and exercise,
which I regret not having seen, as I have since undeystood
that the teachers are not merely acccessible, but politely atten-
tive to strangers, who wish to survey the establishment, or to
prosecute, in its academical groves, botanical researches,

The city of Montreal has thriven surprisingly within a few
years, and now contains as many inhabitants as Quebec, say
twelve or fifteen thousand,

There has been, and in time of peace will continue to be, a
great influx of Americans, chiefly from the New England
States, who are winding themselves into all the most active
and ingenious employments. Episcopal and Presbyterian
chapels, or meeting-houses, have long been established here ;
and of late the Methodists, those pioneers of reformation, have

*Answer. No. There is no Catholic church but that of Rome, out of
which there is no salvation.

+ Question. What must we then believe of those other societies which
call themselves churches and do not profess the same faith with us, or arq
not subjected to the same pastors?

t Answer. They are human institutions, which serve to load men astray,
and can in no wise direct them to God, _

Eglise

ocietés
foi que

1e ser
luire &

yecome
| is the
e insti-
utation
pice, at

h other
d to be
> them-
rcise of
eprived
forts of

-educa-
is truly
confore
ttached
xercise,
erstood
vy atten-
nt, or to
8.

na few
bec, say

to be, a
ngland
st active
byterian
pd here $
bo, have

ne, out of

ies which
us, or ar

en astray,

.

Montreal.

broke ground within the precincts of the Catholic church, one
and indivisible as it is!

The relations of trade increase daily between this place and
the United States; and such is the course of exchange, that
the notes of our principal banks circulate freely in all the towns
of Canada. The merchants of Montreal are now, howeve,
about establishing a bank of their own, with a capital of
250,000/. sterling, something more than a million of dollars.
This will have a tendency to limit the circulation of foreign
paper, and promote domestic improvement, as well as ‘facilitate’
the operations of trade; though the expor's from hence are
chiefly confined to wheat and flour, peltry, lumber, &c. re-
ceived from Upper Canada, or the United States.

If the vicinity of Montreal is less wildly magnificent than
that of Quebec, it is far more luxuriant and smiling. Here
wheat and rye seldom fail to reward the labours of the husband-
man, (however ill-directed they may be) though the summers,
even here, are found too short to encourage the cultivation of
Indian corn; and peaches will scarcely ripen without shelter-
ing walls. Plums, apples, pears, are likewise much better here
than at Quebec; and the berry fruits, particularly currants,
raspberries, and strawberries, from foreign stocks, are pro-
duced as large, and some of thein as fine, as they are with us.
The cultivated gooseberry is much larger, the general coolness
of the summer favouring its growth, by retarding its maturity.

There is here a Society of Florists, who gave premiums,
whilst I was at Montreal, for the finest specimens of ranuncu-
luses and carnations.

As many weekly papers are already published, both in Mon-
treal and also at Quebec, in the English language as in the
French ; and it is evident that the former will gain the ascen-
dency here—perhaps at no distant day.

The streets of business, and especially the shops, have the
snug look of an English town ; and it was amusing to see how
exactly the young men of any figure were in the London cul.

The British Officers, I'am told, do not mix much in society
with the natives of Canada; yet military manners prevail here,
as well as at Quebec. The rabble flock in crowds to regimen-
tal parades; and even women, of any appearance, make a
point of stepping to a march.

Before I quit Montreal I shall not do justice to its public
edifices without mentioning, as a handsome structure, the
government-house, for the administration of justice, &c. with
the king’s arms in the pediment, elaborately executed in Coade’s
artificial stone ; a new jail, of appropriate construction, accom-
VoyvaceEs and Trave ts, No. 2. Vol. JIL. L,

~~.
a

74 Travels in Lower Canada.

pe by that eye-sore to American feelings—tie Whippin
ost ; and a naval pillar (which has been unfavourably place
in front of the latter) intended in honour of Lord Nelson.

NELSON’S PILLAR.

This beautiful memento (I recollect nothing superior to it in
England, where, to be sure, they are not semaauable for public
monuments any more than ourselves) stands upon an elevated
pedestal, upon the front of which is a suitable inscription, in
which is not forgotten the hero’s last order, “ England expects
every man wil! do his duty.” On the two sides, in circular
compartments, are represented, in the boldest bas-reliefs (of
the composition before mentioned) the horrid scenes of ships
sinking to the bottom of the deep, or blowing up into the arr,
as they occurred at the Nile, and off Trafalgar. In that of
the fourth side is represented the Crown-Prince of Denmark,
who is seen submitting to Nelson’s lawless requisition at the
moment when, it is said, that victory was turning against the
conqueror.

The shaft of this pillar is fifty feet high. Upon its capital
stands the admiral, who makes, it must be allowed, but a very
sorry figure in statuary, with his arm ina sling; but his lord-
ship leans, with peculiar propriety, upon the remains of a
broken mast; and the base of the column is a well-wrought
cable.

This monument is ivjudiciously placed in the common
Market-place, instead of the Place d’Armes, or the parade
upon the boulevards, at one end of which are two very fine
new houses of hewn stone, and in the neighbourhood new
streets are laying out, which will greatly modernise the town,
and connect it with the adjacent suburbs, from which it was

formerly very inconvenientiy disjoined by the ramparts, which
are now dismantled.

THE PEASANTRY OF CANADA.

The peasantry in Canada, (by which term I hope Lower
Canada will be always understood in these sketches) that is to
say, the great body of the people, is in a state of ignorance
but little exceeding the simplicity of the Indian tribes in their
neighbourhood, and of poverty almost as little removed from
a state of absolute want; yet

Patient of labour, with a little pleased,

they are, perhaps, as happy as their more polished neighbours ;
and certainly they are more harmless and less discontented :

No fancied ills, no pride-created wants,
Disturb the peaceful current of their days.

it in
ublic
vated
yn, in
pects
cular
fs (of
ships
1e alr,
vat of
mark,
at the
ist the

capital
a very
s lord-
; of a

| ought

pmmMmon
parade
ry fine
d new
b town,
it was

which

Lower
at is to
erance
in their
ed from

ibours 3
nted :

Montreal. ° 4D

Relieved from the horrors of inilitary conscription and feu-

dal tyranny, pinning their faith upon the priest’s sleeve, these

simple people are literally satisfied with their daily bread, and
leave the morrow to provide for itself

No more— Where ignorance is bliss,

(says the poet) and J shall not now stop to controvert the po-
sition,

’Tis folly to be wise.

In point of morality and devotion, the French, in Canada,
may be compared to the Swiss and the Scotch in Europe,
though far behind the former in industry, and the latter in in-
genuity and enterprise. Infidelity is unknown among them;
and the passion for military glory almost extinct, as well as
that thoughtless gaiety which distinguishes the French in

Europe, no longer enlivened by the exhilarating wines of the
mother-country :

Those healthful cups which cheer but not inebriate,

as Cowper elegantly said of the English beverage—tea.

So great is the change of manners and principles which has
followed, in two centuries, an alteration in the overruling cir-
cumstances of climate and government.

National pride, in its proper sense, as confined to the country
which gave us birth, is scarcely felt in Canada, where every
sensation of national glory reverts to the forgotten history of a
distant land; and the government that is obeyed, per force, is
foreign to the people; and they can have no sentiments in
unison with the objects of its ambition.

A Canadian is ready to adinit the superiority of the Amezi-
can character, and shews nothing of French partialities, save
in the display of the Gallic cock, which is perched upon the
spire of every steeple, and upon the top of every cross, toge-
ther with the sun, the flower-de-luce, and other degraded em-
blems of the French monarchy, which British policy has
wisely permitted these harmlcss people to retain as long as they
were content to let go the substance of national independence,
and grasp a shadow.

Even in person and countenance they are perceptibly altered
from their European ancestors. The Canadian peasant is not
so tall as the native Frenchman ; neither is he so well-shaped,
or so comely in feature as his progenitors. He is also browner,
by many degrees, than the natives of France.

From this marked example it would appear that national pe-
culiarities may be formed by the operation of imperious cir-
cumstances, in far less time a is required to change the

vat

Travels in Lower Canada.

colour of the skin, by the influence of climate; and we need
be at no diflieulty to admit the @radual origin of the variety of
complexions in the human races since a change of feature and
person can be so soon brought about in a colony of Europeans
thus completely separated from the parent-stock.

The French tongue, however, has been very little deteriorated
in Canada. The peasantry coming from different provinces,
left their respective allotments of the “ Patois de chez nous”
behind thent,in the land of their ancestors ; and their posterity
now speak bat one language, which is very tolerable French ;
though not, to be sure, like the English of America, as pure
and perfect as the chastest dialect of the mother-country ; al-
though spread over an inhabited surface of ten times its extent.

And here let me warn the British reader, that whenever an
Eoglish traveller in America undertakes to amuse his country-
men, as Weld has sometimes done, with pretended conversa-
tions of American peasants, delivered in bad language, it is of
his own manufacture ; bad English is not coined in the Ame-
rican inint.

There appears to have been but very little emigration from
France since the year 1660, when the province was already
comparatively well-peopled ; and it was about the same time,
in the fullowinge century, that the Canadians yielded their inde-
pendence to the aseendency of the British arms; since which
there has been far more connexion and intercourse between
France and the American proviuces of British origin, than be-
tween that powerful nation and her own descendants.

Thus the deterioration of pristine vigour, that it was possible
for a few centuries to produce, in national character, has been,
in this instance, completely exemplified.

In North America a colonization originally gradual and pro-
gressive, together with the incessant intercourse of commerce
and curiosity, has admitted of so little variation of national
character and appearance, that the Englishman of the United
States is not now to be distinguished in form or feature; in
temper or intellect, (excepting certain shades of difference
which I shall not now undertake to define) from the English-
man of Europe: and the two branches from the parent stem
may now be considered, with infinitely more prapuely, in the
light of elder and younger brothers, established in different
countries, than in the fancied relationship of | oak pas and child,
which, if it was true of our ancestors a hundred years ago, is
no lenger so of the two separate races which have since sprung
from the same parent-stock.

A kundred years hence, when obsolete pretensions have
been forgotten, and jealousies and prepossessions shall be no

tio

‘tent.
er an
ntry-
ersa-
is of
A me-

from
ready
time,
inde-
vhich
ween
n bee

ssible
been,

1 pro-
merce
tional
‘nited
‘e3 In
rence
glish-
t stem
in the
Terent
child,
170, is

prung

have
be no

Peasantry of Canada. 77

longer remembered, it will be the proudest boast of Britain
that she planted the Colonies of North America; and the
learest title of the United States, that their progenitors came
from Old Eveland.

To an American from the United States, the smallness of
towns so noted, and so long established as Quebec and Mon-
treal, is inconceivable, and scarcely credible to the observer. I
could myself with difficulty believe, that the population of the
latter is now estimated at but fifteen thousand, of the former at
no more than twelve ; numbers which might have been roughly
computed by the English at the time of the conquest. Still
less can we imagine how the population of the country which, at
that period, was estimated at scventy or eighty thousand, should
have little more than doubled itself since, although sixty years
have nearly elapsed, a period in which the standing population
of the United States has more than trebled itself. [ speak not
of the rapid reduplication of the New States, which arises from
emigration, and takes place at the expense of the Old.

In the year 1706, the people of New France were estimated
at thirty thousand. At the Conquest, fifty-five years afterward,
they were variously computed at seventy and at ninety thon-
sand souls. If the latter was the true number (which I very
much doubt) they can have little more than doubled since ; fur
on the peace of 1783 an account of them was taken, by order
of the government, and the whole amount, including the Eng-
lish with the French, was only one hundred and thirteen thou-
sand, There were, at the same time, ten thousand loyalists
established in Upper Canada.

If, therefore, the French stock has doubled itself since the
year 1760, it is as much as can be inferred from the data given
above. Taking the mean number (eighty) for a_ basis, its
double will be a hundred and sixty thousand, which is proba-
bly not far from the truth; for 1 cannot adopt the flattering
estimate of common computation, by which the present inhabi-
tants of Lower Canada are raised to the suppositious amount
of two hundred and fifty thousand.

There are many circumstances in Canada which control the
energies of life, beside occasional scarcity and the long ab-
sence of the voyagers; preventing the natural tendency of
new colonies to increase and multiply.

The extreme heats of the climate, though not lasting, ener-
vate the body, and its extreme cold chills the blood, and has a
benumbing effect upon the powers of the mina. Frequent
festivals, or holidays, introduce habits of idleness and relaxa-
tion. The lands are held by military tenure. ‘The occupants
are liable to the teazing claim of quit-rents, and the unseasen-

78 Travels in Lower Canada.

able exaction of military service. At every transfer of prd-
perty the new purchaser is bound to pay one-fifth to the
seiguior, and in case of war the land-holder is liable to serve
without pay. In short, under the Ancien Regime, every peasant
was a soldier, and every seignior an officer ; and although the
natives are now excluded from the king’s troops, the Creoles
are enrolled in the militia, and are still called out, occasionally,
without fee or reward. Accordingly, the frequent may-poles to
be observed on the road-sides, do not mark, as at first sight I
fondly imagined they might have done, the circle of a village-
dance, where the sons and daughters of poverty might forget
their wants in their enjoyments; but the superintendance of a
serjeant, or a captain of a militia, as the rallying-point of duty
in cases of alarm.*

Most of those who cultivate the soil can neither read nor
write, of course they know nothing of the advantages of com-
posts or the rotation of crops, by which the means of life are
so cheaply multiplied by intelligent agriculturists. And before
Quebec was taken by the English, all the manure produced
in its stables was regularly thrown into the river.

Another check1o population remains to be mentioned (though
last, not least.) It is the law of celibacy tu which the priests
and nuns are prescriptively subjected, and to whose mortifying
restrictions, owever unnatural, there is no reason to doubt
their scrupulous conformity.

eee’

* By the ancient custom of Canada, lands en fief, or en roture, were held
immediately from the king, on condition of rendering fealty and homage,
upon every accession to the seignorial property, and, in the event of a
transfer, by sale, or otherwise, except in the line of hereditary succession,
they were subject to the payment of a quint (one-fifth) of the purchase-
money.

The Tenanciers, or holders of lands, en roture, were subject to the pay-
ment of a quit-rent, which was generally accompanied with some trifling
gratuity, such as a pair of fowls, or a bushel of wheat. They were also bound
to grind their corn at the Moulin banal, or the Lord’s mill, where one-four-
teenth part is taken by way of mouture, or. toll, for grinding ; likewise to
repair highways, and to open new roads, when directed so to do, by the
Grand Voyeur, or Supervisor of the district.

The Lords were also entitled to a tithe of the fish caught within their do-
mains, and might fell timber wherever tiiey chose, for necessary purposes.

Lands held by Roman Catholics are farther subject to the payment, to the
curates, of the twenty-sixth part of all grain produced upon them; also to
occasional assessments for building and repairing churches, parsonage-houses,
and other church-occasions.

The remainder of the located lands are held in free and co1amon soccage,
from which is made a reservation of two-sevenths, one of which is appropri-
ated to the crown, and the other to the maintenance of the Protestant clergy.

pra-
» the
serve
asant
h the
‘eoles
nally,
les to
ght I
lage-
forget
>of a

‘duty

d nor
* com-
fe are
before
duced

hough
priests

ifying
doubt

eed

ere held
1omage,
nt of a
cession,
archase-

he pay-

trifling
o bound
ne-foure
lewise to
, by the

heir do-

NOSES.

t, to the
also to

b~houseS,

soccage,

ppropri-
t clergy.

[ 79]

HISTORY OF CANADA.

Ir I have said little of the early history of Canada, it is
because little is to be said; yet.the reader of ‘these loose
hints may be curious to know when the first settlements took
place, and under what auspices they were established. I
shall briefly transcribe the meagre historians of Canada; I
say meagre in point of facts, for both La Hontan and Char-
levoix are insufterably verbose, and the ponderous quartos of
the latter may be cailed any thing but meagre.

The island of Newfoundland, that inhospitable waste of
naked rocks and barren mountains, which lies at the mouth
of the river St. Lawrence, and which is supposed, notwith-
standing its immense extent, to have never had any abori-
ginal inhabitants; none but wandering Esquimaux from the
neighbouring coast of Labrador having ever been observed
there, was first discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian ad-
venturer, under the patronage of Henry VII. of England.
But no advantage whatever was derived from this discovery,
until after the lapse uf half a century, when the French
navigators began to frequent these seas fox fish; and the two
nations long enjoyed, without molestation from each other,
the privilege of drying cod on the shores of this island, by
prudently occupying the one the southern and northern, and
the other only the eastern coast.*

It was in 1523 that Francis I. King of France, commis-
sioned John Verazzani, a Florentine, then in his service, to
make discoveries (which were then considered in the same
light as conquests) in America. He sailed from Dieppe,
and returned to Dieppe the same year, and this is all that is
now known of his first voyage.—In 1525, however, he set
sail again, ranged the coast of America from south to north,
and having touched at Newfoundland, returned as before.
He now prepared to planta colony in North America, and

* The banks of Newfoundland, so called, are, strictly speaking, a sub-
marine mountain of great extent, uo where covered with less than tweuty
fathom of water, and varying from that depth to sixty and upwards. Itis
ascertained by soundings, that there are vast quantities of shells upon these
banks, and immense multitedes of fish of various sizes, which serve for
nourishment to the cod, which is so much prized in Europe. ‘This, it seems,
is one of the most voracious of fish. Both glass and iron are often found
in its stomach, which, by the provision of nature, has a power of inverting
itself, and thus disgorgine its indigestible contents. Their number is ap-
parently inexhaustible, seeing that two or three hundred vessels have been
annually freighted with them for the last three centuries, without any ap-
parent diminution.

4
ft

80 History of Canada.

sailed from France for that purpose, but was never afterward
heard of.

The river St. Lawrence, one of the largest bodies of fresh
water on the surface of the globe, received its name from
Jacques Cartier, who, in the year 1535, had ascended the
river as far as the place where Montreal now stands, in the
vain hope of finding a nearer passage to China, the fruitless
research which so long engrossed the attention of European
navigators, with a small ship or two from St. Maloes, a sea-
port of France, upon the coast of Brittany.

That magnificent monarch, Francis [. still occupied the
throne of France; but that prince being engaged at home in
perpetual conflicts with his formidable rival, Charles V. of
Spain, from this period, until the beginning of the following
century, no effectual attempts were made by Europeans to
: form a settlement in Canada.
| When Jacques Cartier arrived at the island called by him
| Montreal, from the singular mountain which there rises, in
solitary majesty, over the present town, they found there an
Indian village, or rather a fortified town, since the fifty
cabins, of which it was composed, were surrounded by a
triple row of palisades. It was called Hochelaga, and it was
under the command of a chief, whose name has not been pre-
served, so far as I know.

Although Jacques Cartier appears to have been prevented,
either by discouragement or inability, from returning to take
possession of Montreal, yet, in 1541, Francis de la Roque,
Seigneur de Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, having been
endowed by the king with the unlimited powers of viceroy of
Canada, set sail, with no fewer than five small vessels, for
New France, where he planted a colony, at the head of which
he placed Cartier, who had accompanied him, and went back

to France to prosecute the interests of the new settlement at
court,

On his returning the next year with fresh recruits, he met,
opportunely, his new colonists off Newfoundland, returning
| honie in despair of relief. He readily persuaded them to
i return; and this enterprising nobleman made afterward
i several other voyages in prosecution of his favourite settle-
ment, before the last unfortunate embarkation in 1549, when
he was lost at sea, upon which the colony was broken up;
t and with this unfortunate event terminated thie first attempts

Ph at colonization upon the river St. Lawrence.
r The Protestants of France, unlike those of England, ap-
pear to have been little disposed in this xge to expatriate
themselves for the sake of the free exercise of their religion,

ee FD obs 8 mete Ls ele

i w= ee wt LD

nt,

ward

* fresh
from
bd the
in the
uitless
ropean
a sea-

ed the
ome in
s V. of
lowing
ans to

by him
ises, in
ere an
le fifty
1 by a
l it was
en pre-

vented,
to take
Roque,
g been
eroy of
els, for
f which
nt back
ment at

he met,
turning
hem to
terward
. settle-
9, when
cn up3
ttempts

ind, ap-
patriate
eligion,

History of Canada. 81

being headed at home by men of quality and influence, who
for a long time maintained a successful stand against the
power of the crown, and the intolerance of the clergy: yet
about this time Coligni, then adiniral of France, and after-
ward remarkable for suffering martyrdom iu the tumultuous
massacre of St, Bartholomew, with the permission of Charles
TX., over whose weak mind he appears to have enjoyed great
influence, notwithstanding his religion, attempted a settlement
in Florida, for the retreat of the Calvinists, or Hugonots, of
France. But these unfortunate emigrants were not long
afterward indiscriminately murdered by the Spaniards, under
the express directions of the gloomy tyrant Philip TI.

Tn the year 1598, the Marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of
Brittany, was again commissioned as viceroy. His colonists
were convicts from the French prisons, and he left them be-
hind to perish upon the isle of Sable, being prevented from
returning to their relief by untoward circuistances, in con-
sequence of which he is said to have died of grief.

Other attempts to people Canada continued to be made
from time to time, but they were all equally unsuccessful.

Champlain, (the future father of the colony,) came over for
the first time in 1603, and returned to France the same year:
but, in 1664, the Sieur de Monts, a Calvinist, obtained per-
mission from Henry LV. to exercise his religion in America,
obliging himself, oddly enough, to premote the Catholic
faith among the savages. His object was the peltries of
Canada, which had now become an important branch of
commerce,

He established his company upon the coast of Acadie, now
Nova Scotia, where he found a rich soil, covered with gigan-
tic woods, and abounding with game of every description.

It was in the year 1608, that Samuel de Champlain, an
enterprising and intelligent merchant, of the town of Dieppe,
in Normandy, who had been for some years engaged in the
above-mentioned traftic of furs, resolved upon establishing
himself permanently in the new world.

Henry IV., the prince so long idolized in France as the
only favourite of the people, in a long line of sovereigns, now
swayed the sceptre in his native country; but it does not
appear that that easy and amiable monarch gave himself any
concern about the claims of his crown upon the unknown
regions of the north. The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal
had been fortunate in their American acquisitions. They
had discovered mines of gold and silver sufficient to tempt
their cupidity across half the globe; but even England had
not yet established colonies for the sake of commerce, and it

Vovaaes and Travets, No. 2. Vol. 1/1. M

Hi
i

R2 History of Canada.

is not to be wondered at that the French, who despise the
useful but unostentatious pursuits of trade, in comparison of
the fancied glories of war and conquest, should see nothing
attractive in a country which opened to them no prospects but
those of honest and industrious thrift.

When Champlain surveyed the banks of the great river,
for the choice of a suitable situation for his infant colony, it
is asserted, upon the authority of tradition, that when they
came in sight of the lofty promontory, that reared its head
between the two rivers St. Lawrence and St. Charles, some
of his attendants cried out at the first sight of this abrupt and
imposing eminence, Quel bec! and the bold adventurer is said
to have immediately adopted this exclamation in his native
tongue, as the future name of his projected town.

No later than the next year we find Champlain, under the
romantic notions of honour, which then prevailed in Europe,
imprudently engaged in an Indian war. He found the
Algonquins of the vicinity of Quebec, and the Hurons of the
fertile island since named Montreal, at war (according to the
immemorial custom of neighbouring savages,) with the Tro-
quois, a powerful confederation on the western border of the
present states of New-York and Pennsylvania.

The Indians of North America, a generous and intelligent
race of men, would seem to have required the excitement of
war and bloodshed in default of the active pursuits and in-
genious occupations of civilized life, to preserve them from
sinking into the torpidity of indolence, rather than for the
indulgence of the brutal passions of anger and revenge. Can
the European sophist assign as plausible a reason for the fre-
quency of wars among civilized nations? much less among
professing Christians, fighting under the same banner, pro-
fessing to obey the same spiritual Commander? Since the
plea of aggression can never be good on both sides, and even
in defensive wars, which are mostly he'd to be justifiable, on
the principle of necessity, that system (no less prudent than
humane, I refer to universal experience) is sure to be aban-
doned, with all its advantages, as soon as opportunities occur
for retaliation or reprisal,

In the spring of 1609, he headed a large party of the
savages, (the name seems to be now not unappropriate) who
were going against the Iroquois, upon the great lake, to which
the French adventurer then gave his own name. They pene-
trated into the lake by the river since called the Sorel, and
Champlain remarked that the fertile islands of the lake were
full of roebucks, deer, elks, and other wild animals, particularly
beavers, who absolutely swarmed in those uafrequented re-

trea
ava
T
sce)
on |

rad
3 u
can
"T
whe
wee
fuse
fled
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une
C
san
fon
kne
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Jak
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eno
ple:
now
this
of —
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of v
C
lain
imp
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the

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ts but

river,
my, it
| they
_ head
some
rt and
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native

er the
rope,
d the
of the
to the
e Tro-
of the

ligent
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nd in-

from
or the

Can
ie fre-
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l even
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f the
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which
pene-
bl, and

were
ularly
ed re-

History of Canada. 83
treats, wherein they had never been disturbed by the restless
avarice of man.

The two parties met accidentally upon the lake; but it
seems the Indians of America were not accustomed to fight
on the water, though they were such perfect masters of the
pee: that the descendants of the most polished nation in
Europe have never yet made any improvement upon their
canoes for river navigation.

They landed upon this occasion on the eastern shore,
where they fought with bows and arrows, the only missile
weapons of which they were then possessed. The French
fusees soon decided the fortune of the day, and the Lroquois
fled with terror, after a few discharges, which were accom-
panied with the loss of many of their leaders, cut down by the
unerring aim of the European rifle.

Only two years afterward Champlain went again on the
same idle expedition, now soothing his conscience with the
fond imagination that it might be a means of spreading the
knowledge of the cross, and procuring the future establish-
ment of a permanent peace. The Algonquius, or rather the
Wrench, for the victory was gained by their fire-arms, were
now again victorious.

In 1615, “ Like a true knight-errant of the woods and
Jakes,” says Charlevoix, (from whose authority I derive the
ancient history of Canada) Champlain was inconsiderate
enough to make a third of these marauding expeditions, to
please his savage neighbours, the Hurons of Hochelaga. He
now received several wounds from the Iroquois, who had by
this time recovered from their surprise at the novel instrumeiits
of warfare adopted by their enemies, and the Hurons re
treated with great loss, carrying off their wounded in a sort
of wicker baskets, constructed for that purpose. |

Only two years after this, so little popularity had Champ-
lain gained among his more immediate neighbours by his
imprudent courtesy, these same allies of his had plotted to
rid themselves of the new-comers, and the timely discovery of
the plot alone prevented its execution. |

Thus was the colony of New France immersed in ruinous
contests with the natives, from its very first establishment ;
and we need look no farther to account for its retarded pro-
gress, and protracted population, at the end of halfa century.

But in justice to the Indians of North America, let it never
be forgotten, that they every where received the new-comers
with open arms; and, while they conducted themselves peace-
ably, entertained no ideas of repulsing, much less of exters
minating, the intruders.

M 2

84 Histery of Canada.

Accordingly, when William Penn laid the toundation of his
colony, in peace and friendship, the only treaty, it has been
wittily observed by Voltaire, that was not ratified by an oath,
and that never was broken, a peace of eighty years was the
happy consequence ; and when it was at length infringed, in
the prosecution of Kuropean quarrels, the peaceful followers
of Penn withdrew from a government which could no longer
be administered without the use of the sword.

In the year 1620, the Marshal de Montmorency pur-
chased the viceroyalty of New France, of his brother-in-law,
the Prince of Conde, (only brother to Lewis XIII.) who
had caused himself to be invested with the proud title of Vice-
roy of New France, apparently without the least intention of
interesting himself in the affairs of the colony.

The marshal appears to have slighted the bauble as soon
as it had gratified his vanity, parting with it, in 1623, to his
nephew Henry de Levi, Duke of Ventadour, in the same ig-
noble manner in which he bad acquired it. From the surname
of this nobleman, it will be remarked, comes the name of Point
Levi. It is, I believe, the only memento of his adininistration
that can now be traced in Canada,

In the next year (1624) the powerful league of the Troquois

made a general attack upon the French settlements, in the
hope of exterminating the obnoxious intruders; but they were
repulsed with great slaughter.
- The Duke de Ventadour was a devotee of the fashion of the
times, (Charles V. bad but a little before strove, in vain, to
shroud his royal temples in the cowl of a monk, and to bury
imperial solicitudes in the oblivion of a cloister.) He only
wished for the viceroyalty of Canada, as a means of facilitat-
ing his views for the conversion of the savages; for which
purpose he engaged the Jesuits, that sect of the Catholic
Church which was, at its first institution, remarkable for
application, zeal, and talent; so many of whose members, ap-
parently denying the honours, the interests, and the pleasures
of this life, were afterwards selected by the sovereigns of Eu-
rope as their prime-ministers, or bosom counsellors.

In 1625 (I mark the epoch with exectness, because I con-
sider it as a date of the first importance in the history of
Canada) the Duke sent over three fathers and two brethren
of that distinguished order.*

* When the possessions of the Jesuits fell to the British Crown, a few
years since, on the demise of the last incumbent, (for the Jesuits in Canada
were protected from the general proscription which awaited them in Europe)
they were valued at an income of ten thousand p- inds steslipg a-year. The

of his
s been
oath,
as the
ed, in
lowers
longer

y pur-
in-law,
) who
Vice-
tion of

s soon
to his
me ig’
rname
f Point
stration

oquois
in the
»y were

1 of the
ain, to
fo bury
le only
icilitat-
which
‘atholic
ble for
rs, ap-
easures

of Eu-

-I con-
tory of
rethren

n, a few
1 Canada
| Europe)
sar. The

History of Canada, 85

During all this time, viz. from 160% to the period of the ar-
rival of the Jesuits, Champlain appears to have rarely
remained above one, two, or at most three, years at a time in
America, although the affairs of the colony always went ill in
his absence.

The next year, however, (1626) three more Jesuits arrived
from France, with a vumber of industrious mechanics; and
now, says Charlevoix, “ Quebec began to assume the ap-
“ pearance of a towns; for till then it had been but a fortified
“ trading-house, and it was not considered at home in any
“ other light.”

In 1627, another form was given to the government of New
France, by Cardinal Richelieu; the Duke de Veatadour gave
up his viceroyalty, and the aflairs of Canada were afterward
managed by a company of merchants, with the cardinal at
their head, until the next wars between France and England,
and the clashing interests of their respective colonics rendered
a military commander indispensable.

The first missionaries in Canada appear to have been men
of eminent piety and zeal; whose labours were wonderfully
blessed among the Hurons; though their well-meant exhorta-
tions were rejected by inimical tribes; and many of the zealous
fathers, in time of war, suffered martyrdom for the profession
of their faith.*

The superannuated survivors of this early peried of simpli-
city and devotion (it was considered as the golden age of Ca-
nada) have always been venerated as the patriarchs of New
France. Some of them were yet alive, though bending be-
neath the weight of years and services, when Charlevoix made
his first visit to the new world; and their memory is still pre-
served in Canada with apostolic veneration.

Tn the year 1629, under the pretence afforded by the siege
of Rochelle, an English fleet, said to be conducted by a
French Protestant, who was inimical to the colony, attacked
and easily made themselves masters of Quebec, at a time
when the infant settlement had reduced itself, by its own mis-
management and the failure or neglect of its harvest, to a state
so nearly approaching starvation, that they could scarcely re-

whole was appropriated by the British nation, with its usual munificence, to
the establishment of public schools.

* Among other allecting instances of conversion which then occurred
among the savages, so called, an old chicitain is mentioned by Charlevoix,
of a hundred years of age, who had been baptized by the Jesuits but a little
before his death. He said, in his last iiiness, with great tenderness and
self-abasement, “Seigneur! Jai commencé bicn tard a yous aimer!” Lord!
T have begun to love thee very late.

“O
IF 5 a ~X<.
3 ney © ew Set,
yy Aa Wr, && ES
NA Y <& é <*
4 mh Vn¢
<= REE E ao
z er ? Aah a! SS 2 =
2e aa o Be
<q a —— 2 is =
=- a
WN
G \.
ae. OR a
’ as s >, AN IN ya VA S
6 3 % > ca Us ~ “ny (e)
J > N\ G aS & &,

86 History of Canada.

frain from opening their gates to the enemy, as their deliverer
from the still greater evil with which they had been threat-
ened, The transient conquest was, however, restored by ami-
cable compromise, between the two sovereigns, at the treaty of
St. Germains, in 1632.*

In the year 1635 died Samuel de Champlain, who has
justly been denominated the father of New France. This
circumstance cast a damp upon the joy occasioned by the res-
toration of the colony to its original governors, that was heigh-
tened, a year or two after that event, by a general sickness
among the Hurons, which had well nigh swept away the In-
dians of Canada by a bloody flux. The French, it seems,
were seized by the same disorder; but to them it was not
fatal; whether owing to the difference of their constitutions,
or the different manner of treating the complaint.

The court had early forbidden the Protestants to go to New
France, and it does not appear that any of that long perse-
cuted people ever established themselves permanently on the
banks of the St. Lawrence; but upon the revocation of the
edict of Nantz, toward the close of this century, a considerable
body of those humble and devout professors of the Christian
faith, who might say with St. Paul, “ After the way which
“ they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers ;” took
refuge in the then province of New York, where their poste-
rity have become numerous and respectable.

In 1642 the Hollanders of Manhattan are mentioned as fur-
nishing the Troquois with fire-arms and spirituous liquors, and
from this period, which appears to have terminated the golden
age of Canada, we read of nothing for twenty years but wars

* There is something so exquisitely artless in Charlevoix’s account of the
different manner in which the English settlers treated the Indians, from that
by which the F'rench had gained the affections of their savage neighbours,
that I cannot forbear transcribing it for the amusement of the reader—“ ‘The
“ English, during the little time in which they had been masters of the
“ country, had not known how to acquire the good-will of the savages. ‘The
“ Hurons never appeared at Quebec as long as the English remained there.
“ The other tribes that resided nearer to the capital, many of whom, on ac-
“ count of particular causes of dissatisfaction, had openly declared against
“us, on the approach of the English squadron showed themsclves afterward
“very rarely. All were disconcerted, when, upon taking the same liberties
“with the new comers, which they had been accustomed to do with the
“ French, they perceived that such manners gave offence.

“It was still worse some time afterward, when they saw themselves
“ driven out of those houses with blows, where, till then, they had entered
“as freely as into their own cabins. They accordingly kept at a distance’
“from the English habitations; and nothing afterward more strongly at-
“ tached them to our interests than this difference of manners and disposi-
“ tion between the two nations.”

Pe eS nal Een

-a TT - Frat = = hh = CO”,

~~

iverer
hreat-

ami-
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0 has
This
e res-
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kness
e In-
eems,
S not
tions,

bh New
erse-
n the
f the
rable
istian
vhich
took
roste-

s fur-
, and
older
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of the
m that
bours,
“The
of the
; The
there.
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erties

th the

selves
itered
tance’
ly at-
$posi-~

History of Canada. 87

without and conspiracies within ; and the whole history of New
France is but a tissue of attacks and reprisals, of missions re-
ceived or rejected, of dissentions between the civil and eccle-
siastical authorities,

To these calamities were added those of famine and pesti-
lence, under the effects of which we can scarcely wonder, con-
sidering the temper of the times, that “ voices were heard
upon earth, and portents appeared in the air. There were
eclipses of the sun, and halos round the moon. Strange lights
Were seen to traverse the country in the day; and globes of
fire gleamed among the shades of night.” Witches, however,
do not appear to have ever haunted Canada, though they were
not unheard of, at this period, in France.

All these things were considered as manifest intimations of
the wrath of God ; and such was, indeed, the situation of the
unhappy colonists about the year L660, that they did not dare
to leave the forts without an escort; and during some time the
sisters of the two nunneries, in the outskirts of Quebec, used
to retire into the city every night for safety. The harvest
could not be gathered in, and serious thoughts were enter-
tained of abandoning the settlement and returning to France.
Seven hundred Iroquois kept Quebec, all summer, in a state
of siege. The next year, however, these people (it seems
they were not inveterate enemies) sent a flag down the great
river with proposals of peace, demanding, as the only condi-
tion, the residence of a missionary among them. The propo-
sition was gladly embraced by the humbled colonists; and
they now set themselves to repair the losses which they had
sustained, by neglecting to cultivate the arts of peace rather
than those of war.

In the year 1663 there were several shocks of an earthquake,
which are said to have been felt throughout New England
and New Holland. The earthquake would appear to have been
real; though its effects are evidently exaggerated by the cre-
dulous historian, since, though the houses were shaken from
side to side, none of them fell down; and in the yawning
chasms which were seen to open in the bosom of the earth,
no person appears to have perished.

But all these supposed indications of the wrath of that mer-
ciful Father, and all-gracious Benefactor, who causeth his sun
to shine upon the righteous and the wicked, and sendeth rain
alike upon the just and upon the unjust, were now atan end ;a
new epoch commenced under brighter auspices ; and, in 1663,
the king (Lewis XIV.) took the government into his own
hands. His majesty sent out the Marquis de Tracy as vice-
roy of New France; the old trading company, before men-

88 flistory of Canada.

tioned, relinquishing the privileges, which had turned to so
Jittle account in their hands, to a new association, called the
West-India Company, which was modelled by the great
Colbert.

It was in the year 1671, that the first discovery was made
by rambling voyagers, of the existence of that great river in
the west, which was destined for the future outlet of an indus-
trious (perhaps immense) population, by the Gulph of Mexico.
It now only served to confirm the ambitious views of France
for the subjection of North America,

In 1672 arrived the Count de Frontenac, as governor-
general; who built Fort Cataraqui, now Kingston, at the
entrance of Lake Ontario. But the haughty manners of this
nobleman gave universal umbrage in America, and he was re-
called by his royal master in 1682. He returned again, how-
ever, in 1689, with renewed powers, the French king then
entertaining the project of possessing himself of the more fer-
tile province of New York; a design which appears to have
been prevented, at the time, by an irruption of the Iroquois;
and afterwards prudently abandoned.

In the summer of 1690, before the count’s arrival, the Five
Nations had attacked Montreal. They landed at La Chine,
twelve hundred strong, and sacked alf the plantations on the
island. The French at the same time had been obliged to
abandon Cataraqui; and the neighbouring Indians were with
difficulty prevented from joining the Iroquois, by the personal
influence of the Sieur Perot, then governor of Montreal, to
whom they were strongly attached. New France is said to
have been on this occasion reduced almost as low as it had
been in 1663, by a concurrence of similar circumstances,

In the year 1690 a joint invasion of Canada was concerted
between New England, that was to attack Quebec by sea,
and New York, that was to invest Montreal by land. Major
Peter Schuyler commanded the party sent from New York,
having been joined at Albany by a body of Indians, some of
whom were now always enlisted in every quarrel between their
European neighbours. He penetrated as far as the Prairie de
la Madeleine, where he was repulsed by the Count de Fron-
tenac, who was there posted, with a large body of French and
Indians. The fleet destined to attack Quebee, consisting of
thirty sail, fitted out in the ports of Massachusetts, was com-
manded by Sir William Phips. Arriving before the town on
the 5th of October, Sir William summoned the Count de
Frontenac, who had by this time returned from Montreal, to
surrender the place. In the chronicles of the times, the pom-
pous message is said to have received an insolent answer.

ed to so
alled the
1e great

as made
river in
n indus-
Mexico.
France

overnor-
, at the
s of this
> Was re-
in, how-
ing then
1ore fer-
to have
roquois 5

the Five
a Chine,
son the
liged to
ere with
personal
treal, to
said to
s it had
Cx,
pneerted
by sea,
Major
v York,
some of
ren their
airie de
le Fron-
ich and
sting of
las com-
own on
sunt de
real, to
e pom-
answer.

History of’ Canada. 89

Upon this he landed a few miles below, thinking to take the
town by storm; but he was so warmly received by the French
commander, that he was fain to re-embark in the night, leav-
ing behind him all his baggage and artillery. The fleet now
cannonaded the town, but with little effect ; and, being driven
from their moorings by stress of weather, Sir William retired
in disorder, on the 12th of October, under the necessity of
avoiding the approach of winter. Several of the ships of this
unfortunate squadron were blown off to the West-Indies, as
they endeavoured to make the ooast of New England; and some
of them were wrecked in the Bay of St. Lawrence, or never
more heard of. Sir William himself did not arrive at Boston,
with the shattered remainder, until the 19th of November.

Quebec had been, for the first time, regularly fortified in
the summer of 1690, and was thus enabled to resist a formid-
able attack, which it would have been utterly unable to with-
stand, had it taken place but a few months before.

The Englisn and Dutch settlers, upon the more favourable
coasts and rivers to the south, had now beeome sufficiently
populous and powerful to stimulate the Iroquois or Five Na-
tions to commence hostilities upon the French, during the
frequent wars which have been always taking place between
those two powerful and warlike nations.

The early emigrations were principally from the northern
coasts of France, which would seem to be one of the reasons
why no Protestants engaged in this colonial adventure, the
preat body of the Protestants of France being situated on the
coasts of the Mediterranean ; whilst the migrations from Eng-
land were almost entirely confined to dissenters from their
hational establishment; a circumstance which has probably
had no small share in producing the various fortunes of the
ge colonies.

he society of Jesuits had been among the first to locate
and improve the Island of Montreal, which they founded
agreeable to traditional record, by the express command of
Lewis XIV. as far up the great river as it was possible for
ships to sail. They were followed in 1657 by the Abbé Que-
tus, and the brotherhood of St. Sulpice.

From this time till the conquest of Canada by the English,
which occurred in the year 1759, there continued to take place;
at distant intervals, repeated incursions on both sides, between
the French and English provinces, as likewise that of the
Dutch, with various degrees of success, or rather of disap-
pointment and disaster; for the French never gained any
gtound upon the neighbouring frontier, and the hardy sons of
Vovacrs and Travets, Vo, 2. Vol, IT.

90 History of Canada.

New England had more than once invaded Canada to as little
purpose, or rather worse than none; particularly in the year
1711, when Admiral Walker was cast away in the Bay of St.
Lawrence, with a fleet.of ships intended to co-operate in ano-
ther attack upon Quebec; before General Abercrombie, at the
head of fifteen thousand men, was repulsed (in 1758) by the
French and Indians at Ticonderoga, a formidable out-post
at the confluence of Lake George and Lake Champlain—
now far within the acknowledged boundary of the United
States.

It was before this savaye entrencliment, the remains of
which may still be traced by those who sail upon those inland
waters, that the first Lord Howe lost his life. The same no-
bleman, whose two sons afterwards acted so conspicuous, yet
so negative a part, the one as admiral, the other as comman-
der-in-chief, in the struggle that soon afterward took place
between the British colonies and the mother-country, for con-
tinental independence.

In the following year, General Wolfe succeeded in wresting
Quebec out of the hands of the Marquis de Montcalm, who
fell, together with the successful invader, in the same bloody
field. The marquis is said to have replied, with characteristic
magnanimity, when he was told that he had but a few hours
to live— So much the better!—I shall not live to see the
surrender of Quebec.”

During the revolutionary contest, in the year 1775, the
American General Montgomery fell, in like manner, during a
fruitless attack upon Quebec. And the British General Bur-
goyne, in 1777, having descended Lake Champlain, and dissi-
pated his mighty force among the trackless woods which then
surrounded it on all sides, was fain, at Saratoga, to strike the
royal standard to that very undisciplined multitude whom his
fulminating proclamation from Illinois, for we are not the
only people that are chargeable with similar rhodomontades,
had begun with denominating rebels and traitors.

Five-and-thirty years after this event, in the year 1812, dur-
ing another struggle between the same parties, in support of
national pretensions, the British Commodore Downie, with
five or six sloops of war, was completely discomfitted by
M‘Donough, the American commander, upon the same Lake
Champlain ; and the trophies of his victory, their dismantled
hulks, still exhibit their black and battered sides among the
dark firs and frowning precipices of Wood Creek.

Sir George Provost, who had penetrated to Plattsburgh, at
the head of fifteen thousand men, precipitately retreating to

s little

e year
of St.
in ano-
at the
by the
ut-post
ylain—

United

ains of
inland
me no-
us, yet
mman-
< place
or COn-

resting
n, who
bloody
teristic
v hours
see the

75, the
uring a
al Bur.
d dissi-
h then
ike the
10m his
not the
bntades,

2, dur-
pport of
e, with
ted by
e Lake

antled
ong’ the

irgh, at
ting to

History of Canada. 91

St. John’s, upon this event taking place before his cyes, with-
out his being able to do any thing to prevent the unexpected
catastrophe.*

Such are the melancholy details of national prowess: alas!
that it should have been hitherto in vain for moralists, philoso-
phers, and poets, under the immediate sanction of the Prince
oF Peace, the Captain of our Salvation, to deprecate the un-
necessary effusion of blood in national quarrels.—

Ah! what more shews the vanity of life,

Than to behold the Nations all on fire,

In cruel broils engaged, and deadly strife ;

Most Christian Kings inflamed by black desire,

With honourable ruftians in their hire,

Cause war to rage, and blood around to pour ;

Of this sad work, when cach begins to tire,

They set them down just where they were before ;

Till, for new scenes of woe, peace shall their force restore,

THE ANCIENT NOBLESSE,.

Of the ancient Noblesse of Canada, the Counts of Longueil
and St. Lawrence have long been extinct; and the small re-
mainder being now deprived of the advantages of privilege
and prepossession; and having no longer any other chance
for the appointments of power and profit, but what they must
derive, in common with their fellow-subjects, from personal
merit, are rapidly sinking into decay or insignificance. Events
which they are said to have accelerated by their own inatten-
tion to qualify themselves for public confidence, and their
neglecting to preserve their families from the supposed conta-
mination of plebeian interinixture.

Yet there still remain in Montreal and at Boucherville, in
dignified retirement, the noble families of Lavigniere, De
Beau Jeu, Dechambault, De la Naudiere, and others. And
at Quebec are yet found the ancient Chevaliers de Lery.

The Baronies of Port Neuf and of Longueil preserve upon
parchment the obsolete titles of their ancient lords ; but those
dignities no longer descend with the estates; and they may
be considered as virtually extinct, since the honours which
they claim have not been derived from the British Crown.

a a a a a a iad

* Tsay nothing of the turgid manifestoes and retrograde manoeuvres of
General Hull, or General Smythe, upon Canadian ground ; and many other
futile attempts on both sides to penetrate into cach others borders—in pure
‘Dbravado—or on marauding expeditions, without end or aim—sinee they all
terminated, as usual in such cases, in the disgrace or discomfiture of the in-
vader; and served no other purpose than to add another lesson to the many
already forgotten by disappointed ambition, upon the inevitable mischances

of offensive war.
NQ2

92 History of Canada,

I much doubt the correctness of my orthography in these
forcign denominations, but I have now no means of correctin
it; having collected most of this local information carbeatd
the steam-boat, in Lake Champlain, not from printed docu-
ments, to which I might again recur, but from two Canadian
penyemen: one of them a father, and the other a bachelor-

rother, of reserved habits, but of gentle manners, and affec-
tions mild. They reminded me of Sterne’s “ my Father and
Uncle Toby,” calculating the possibilities of his eldest bro-
ther Bobby’s projected tour of Europe. For these two good
souls were going all the way to Philadelphia, to accompany
the hope of the family (a velisarown youth, whom American
parents would have considered fully competent to the task of
taking care of himself) on his way to take shipping for France,
to perfect himself in the celebrated schools of Paris, for the
age of physic; which, it seems, is a profession less wil-
ingly embraced in Canada, by youths of family or spirit, than
that of the lay—Creoles having no chance for preferment in
the army.

They had heard the well-merited fame of our penitentiary,
and were solicitous to inform themselves of its details, as there
is a probability that some, at least, of its beneficial provisions
may be adopted in the new places of correction and confine-
ment which are now erecting at Montreal. I told them what
J knew of the system, and recommended them to apply to the
benevolent managers of that institution, for the information
which I know they will most willingly impart.

Thus the benevolent (may I not say, with reverence, the
godlike) plan of correcting, with a view to reform rather than
punish, is generally extending itself from land to land. May
It one day pervade the world, and do away the barbarous
custom of inflicting sanguinary punishments, in the face of
day, with which the streets of the most polished capitals in
Europe now shock the feelings of the American traveller !

—————.

ON THE LEAGUE OF THE IROQUOIS, OR FIVE NATIONS,

THE justly celebrated confederacy of Five Nations, which existed in the
heart of the New Continent, when the first migrators landed from Europe
was a powerful league, which had existed for ages, like that of the States of
Holland, or the ancient Republics of Greece, for the purpose of mutual de-
fence against powerful neighbours ; but without impairing the independent
jurisdiction of any of its members.

It affords a striking parallel to that potent and wide-spread confederation,
which has since taken place among the succeeding occupants of the same
rich and well-watered territory, which is adapted, in an unexampled degree,
tg carry to their utmost limits the active energies of civilized man.

League of the Iroquois. 93

1 these This aboriginal association, which is entitled to more respectful notice
rectin than has ever yet been allotted to it in American history; but to which
boar’ ample, though tardy, justice will be done by our future poets and historians,
+ danu- (may it not be when too late to trace the features of their character with the

. precision of which the interesting subject is yet susceptible !) then consisted

inadian of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagoes, the Cayugas, and the

chelor- Sennekaas.

d affec- Of these, the Mohawks, then situated on the fertile banks of the river

her and which still bears their name, were considered as the chief nation, or tribe;
but the great council of the confederacy assembled annually at Onondaga (1

st. bro- have myself seen the great wigwam, sixty or eighty feet in length, in
A) good which was kindled the council-fire, before the dereliction of National Sove-
ompany reignty to the Congress of the United States had dissolved the aboriginal
merican union) on account of the central situation of that place, which rendered it

convenient for the assembling of the confederated tribes.

task of Of this powerful league, which is suppesed to have once extended the
France, terror of its arms from the Gulf of Mexico to Hudson’s Bay, the Sennekaas
for the are the only tribe that is now numerous enough to be of any political import-
ess wil- ance, ‘They are yet to be found in large bodies upon the eastern banks of

Lake Erie; where the curious traveller may still witness, at their occasional

it, than councils, all the striking peculiaritics of the Indian character.

nent in An old war-chief, called the Farmer’s Brother, whose person and features
are stamped with all the hardihood of antiquity, is yet living; and the chief

antiary, speaker, vulgarly called Red Jacket, but in his own tongue, with appro-

priate qualification, Tsekuyeaathaw, ‘ the man that keeps you awake,” may

e : : . : ‘ Z
as ther still be heard, occasionally, delivering orations that Cicero or Demosthenes

OVISIONS would have listened to with delight. Ihave myself heard this native orator
confine- speak for hours together, at one of the last public treaties that was held with
m what this tribe. His discourse was then taken in short-hand. It was upon local
y to the policy, and therefore is now forgotten, though it went through the newspa-

pers of the day ; but some of his speeches, in reply to the solicitations of dif-
ferent missionaries to the Sennckaa tribe, to change the religion of their
fathers for the Christian creed, have been often reprinted in our periodical

rmation

ice, the publications, and can only be read with astonishment. They clevate the
er than untutored Indian far above Pope’s elegant apology for that supposed igno-
May rance and imbecility with which self-complacent Europeans have been

. pleased to designate the wild man of Amer‘va.
rbarous When Father Charlevoix, a learned Jesu::, ‘irst assisted, as the French say,
face of at an Indian Council (for the gift of eloquence was not confined to the orators
itals in of the Five Nations) he could not believe that the Jesuit, who acted as inter-

ler! preter, was not imposing upon the audience the effusions of his own brilliant
Imagination.
Yet Charlevoix had been accustomed to the orations of Masillon and
Bourdalovs; when those eminent orators displayed all the powers of pulpit
eloquence, . t the funerals of princes, upon the fertile subject of the vanity
TIONS, of life; but he confess*: that he had never heard any thing so interesting as
the extempore discourses of an Indian chief.

ed in the Even those who have had the enviable privilege of listening, in the British

Sag Se ee

ope, House of Commons, to
States o
utual de- The popular harangue, the tart reply,

ependent The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit,

that flowed spontaneous from Burke, and Sheridan, and Fox, and Pitt, during
the most splendid period of British oratory, have freely acknowledged, that
they never heard any thing more impressive than an Indian speech, accom-
panied, as it usually is, with all the graces of unconstrained delivery,

deration,
the same
d degree,

ELT

SSS SC RR ee

C 4 J
A DESCRIPTION OF THE BEAVER, IN CANADA.

THat sagacious and persevering animal, the Beaver, is the proper emblem
of republican America, and was so adopted by Franklin, in his designs for
the continental bills, He is a pattern of conjugal fidelity and paternal care.
Laborious, thrifty, frugal, watehful, and ingenious. He submits to govern-
ment in the republican form for the benefits of political association ; but is
never known, in the most powerful communitics, to make depredations
upon his weaker neighbours,

On the first arrival of Europeans in Canada, the beaver was found of the
size of four feet in length, aud the weight of fifty or sixty pounds; but all
animals, hunted for their furs, or skins, have become much less, or rather
have been prevented from becoming so large, as they were before the ap-
proach of civilized man. He is now rarely met with of a greater length
than three feet, or a greater weight than twenty-five to thirty pounds,

The back of this remarkable animal rises like an arc, His teeth are long,
broad, strong, and sharp. Four of these, two above and two below, are
called incisors. ‘These teeth project one or two inches, and are curved like
a gouge. The toes of his fore-fect are separated, as if designed to answer
the purpose of fingers, His hind-feet are fitted with webs, adapted to the
purpose of swimming. Lis tail is a “ot long, an inch thick, and five or six
inches broad ; it accordingly serves the purpose of a trowe! in plastering his
dam,

Wherever a number of these animals come tegether, they immediately
combine, in socicty, to perform the common business of constructing their
habitations; apparently acting under the most intelligent design. ‘Though
there is no appearance indicating the authority of a chief or leader, yet no
contention or disagreement is ever observed among them.

When a sufficient number of them is collected to form a town, the public
business is first attended to; and, as they arc amphibious animals, provision
is to be made for spending their time, occasionally, both in and out of the
water. In conformity to this Jaw of their nature, they seek a situation which
is adapted to both these purposes.

With this view, a lake or pond, sometimes a running stream, is pitched
upon. If it be a lake or pond, the water in it is always deep enough to
admit of their swimming under the ice. If it be a stream, it is always such
a stream as will form a pond that shall be every way convenient for their
purpose ; and such is their forecast, that they never fix upon a situa‘ion that
will not eventually answer their views.

Their next business is to construct a dam. This is always placed in the
most convenient part of the stream ; the form of it is either straight, rounding,
or angular, as the peculiarities of the situation require ; and no human inge-
nuity could improve their labours in these respects.

The materials they use, are wood and earth. ‘They choose a tree on the
river-side which will readily fall across the stream ; and some of them apply
themselves with diligence to cut it through with their teeth, Others cut down
smaller trees, which they divide info equal and convenient lengths. Some
drag these pieces to the brink of the river, and others swim with them to the
spot where the dam is forming.

As many as can find room are engaged in sinking one end of these stakes ;
and as many more in raising, fixing, and securing, the other ends of them.
Others are employed at the same time in carrying on the plastering part of
the work, The earthis brought in their mouths,{formed into a kind of mortar
with their feet and tails; and this is spread over the intervals between the
stakes, saplings and twigs being occasionally interwoven with the mud and
slime.

Where two or three hundred beavers are united, these dams are from six
to twelve feet thick at the bottom; at the top, not more than two or three.

\.

remblem
signs for
rhal care.
» LOVCTE
n; but is
redations

nd of the
3; but all
or rather
» the ap-
er length
s.

are long,
tlow, are
irved like
o answer
ted to the
Ve Or SIX
tering his

mediately
ting their

Though
r, yet ho

he public
provision
mut of the
ion which

s pitched
1ough to
rays such
for their
vion that

ed in the
rounding
an inge-

ce on the
em apply
cut down
s. Some
m to the

sc stakes 3
of them,
g part of
f mortar
ween the
ud and

from six
or three.

Description of the Beaver. 95

In that part of ve dam which is opposed to the current, the stakes are placed
obliquely ; but on that side where the water is to fall’ over, they are placed
ina pe rpendic ular direction,

These dams are sometimes a hundred feet in length, and always of the
exact height which will answer their purposes,

The ponds thus formed, sometimes cover five or six hundred acres, They
generally spread over grounds abounding with trees and bushes of the softest
wood, maple, birch, poplar, willow, ke. and, to preserve the dams against
inundation, the beaver always leaves sluices near the iniddle, for the re-
dundant water to pass off,

When the public works are completed, the beavers separate into small
companies, to build cabins or houses for themselves. These are built upon
piles, along the borders of the pond. They are of an oval construction, re-
scmbling abee-hive ; and they vary from four to ten feet in diameter, ac-
cording to the number of families they are to accommodate,

These dwellings are never less than two stories high, generally three ;
and sometimes they coutain four apartments. ‘The walls of these are trom
two to three feet thick, formed of the same materials with the dams, Qn
the inside they are made smooth, but left rough without, being rendered im-
penetrable to rain. The lower story is about two feet high, the second is
formed by a floor of sticks covered with mud, and the upper apartment ter-
minates with an arched roof. ‘Through cach floor there is a passage, and
the uppermost floor is always above the level of the water.

Each of these huts has two doors, one on the land-side, to admit of their
going out and secking provision that way; another under the water and
below where it freezes, to preserve their communication with the pond.

No association of people can possibly appear more happy, or be better
regulated, than the tribe of beavers. The male and female always pair.
Tn September they lay up their winter’s stock, which consists of bark, and
the tender twigs of trees. ‘Then commences the season of love and repose ;
and during the winter they remain within, every one enjoying the fruits of
his own labour, without pilfering from any other.

‘Yowards spring the females bring forth their young, to the number of
three or four, Soon after, the male retires to gather firs and vegetables, as
the spring opens ; but the dam remains at home, to nurse and rear up their
young. ‘The male occasionally returns home, but not to tarry, until the
end of the year; yet, ifany injury should happen to their works, the whole
society are soon collected, by some unknown means, and they join all their
forces to repair the injury which has been sustained.

Whenever an enemy approaches their village, the beaver who first per-
ceives the unwelcome stranger, strikes on the water with his tail, to give
notice of the approaching danger; and the whole careful tribe instantly
plunge into the water.

The fur of this wonderful animal, which is so much prized in commerce,
is an interior coat, there being a double growth of it over all parts of the
body; the outer and longer being of an inferior quality, while the inner,
being thus preserved from air and injury, is thick, fine, and as soft as silk.
The sacks which contain the precious oil, used in medicine under the name
of castoreum, lie concealed behind the kidneys.

They vary very much in colour. The most esteemed shade is black, and
they have been found perfectly white; but the gencral colour of the species
is a chesnut-brown. .

In a state of nature, undisturbed by barbarous and selfish man, this provi-
dent animal lives fifteen or twenty years, and prepares the way for several
generations, adapting his dwellings to the increase of his family.

END OF SANSOM’S TRAVELS

SS eee

TOUR

IN
VIRGINIA, TENNESSEE,
&e, Ke, Ke.
BY THE REV. ELIAS CORNELIUS.
aS
AVING recently returned from a tour of considerable
extent in the United States, I avail myself, with plea-
sure, of the first leisure moment to communicate some facts

relative to the Mineralogy and Geology of that part of the
country through which I have passed.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

Before doing this, permit me to premise, that, in consequence
of my limited acquaintance with these branches of Natural
Science, and the still more limited time, which other and im-
ponent concerns allowed me to devote to the subject, I can do
i

ttle more than give a general description. What my eye
could catch, as I travelled from one country and wilderness to
another, preserving occasionally a few of the most interesting
specimens, was all I could do. The narrative I am about to
give, is drawn principally from the notes which were taken on
the journey, and will be confined to a simple statement of such
facts as were either observed by myself, or derived from good
authority. Their application to preconceived theories I leave
to those who have more leisure and disposition for speculation
than myself.

A description of a few natural and artificial curiosities which
came under particular notice, will not, I trust, be thought au
improper digression. ‘The whole is committed to your dispo-
sal; and, if it shall add but one mite to the treasury of Ameri-
can Natural History, I shall be gratified, and rejoice to have
made even this small remuneration for your unwearied efforts,
to impart to one, formerly your pupil, a love for Natural Science.

The Author’s Route.

My route was in a line nearly direct from Boston to New
Orleans; passing through the principal cities to Washington ;

siderable
ith plea-
bme facts
rt of the

Fequence
Natural
and im-

I can do

; my eye

rness to

teresting’
about to
taken on

t of such

om good

; I leave

culation

2s which
ught au
r dispo-
' Ameri-
to have
l efforts,
Science.

to New
ington ;

Geology of Virginia, NY

thence, diagonally, through Virginia, East Tennessee, and the
north-western angle of Georgia; in a western course through
the north division of the territory of Alabama, to the north-
eastern boundary of the State of Mississippi; and thence ina
line nearly south-west to Natchez. From this last place I
descended the river Mississippi to New Orleans. On my re-
turn, I frequently varied from this course, and had increased
opportunities for surveying the country. In both instances I
passed through the countries belonging to the Cherokee,
thickesaw, and Choctaw tribes of Indians, and travelled among
them, in all, about one thousand miles.
Geology of Virginia.

As others have described more minutely and accurately than
I can, the country north of Virginia, I shall begin with a few
remarks on the gevlogical character of that State. It is there
that the traveller, in passing from the Atlantic to the interior,
crosses successively the most important formations of the earth,
from the most recent alluvial to the oldest primitive. For a
considerable distance from the coast, the country is alluvial, It
then assumes an older secondary formation—and sandstone
and puddingstone are frequent. This is the character of the
district of Columbia, and, indeed, of a great part of the valley
of the Potomac.

Sandstone of the Capitol, $c.

In this valley, and adjacent to the river, is found the sand-
stone of which the president’s house and the capitol are con-
structed. It is composed of fine silicious grains, is easily
wrought, and, from its colour, has the appearance, at a smal!
distance, of white marble.

Beautiful Breccia.

It is also in the valley of this river, and not far from its fa-
mous passage through the Blue Ridge, that immense quarries
of beautiful Breccia have been opened. This rock was first
brought into use by Mr. Latrobe, for some years employed by
the government as principal architect. It is composed of peb-
bles, and fragments of silicious and calcareous stones, of almost
every size, from a grain to several inches in diameter, rae |
and perfectly cemented. Some are angular, others rounded.
Their colours are very various, and often bright. Red, white,
brown, grey, and green, are alternately conspicuous, with
every intermediate shade. Owing to the silicious stones which
are frequently imbedded through the mass, it is wrought with
much difticulty ; but, when finished, shews a fine polish, and is
unquestionably one of the most beautifu'ly variegated marbles

Voyaces and Travrts, No. 2. Vol. UT. O

98 Tour through Virginia, §:c.

that ever ornamented any place. It would be difficult to con-
ceive of any thing more grand than the hall of the Representa-
tives, in the capitol, supported as it is by twenty or thirty pil-
lars formed of the solid rock, and placed in an amphitheatrical
range; each pillar about three feet in diameter, and twenty in
height. Some idea of the labour which is employed in work-
ing the marble may be formed from the fact, that the expense
of each pillar is estimated at five thousand dollars. The spe-
cimens in your possession are good examples of its general
structure, but convey no adequate idea of its beauty.

Petrifaction of Wood.

It will be proper to notice, in this place, a petrifaction of
wood,which is found on the road from W ashington to Freder-
icksburgh, sixteen miles from the latter, and four miles north of
the court-house in Stafford county. It is remarkable for its size,
rather than for any singularity in the composition. It was
found by digging away the earth on the side of the road, and
appears to have been the trunk of a considerable tree. It is
firmly fixed in the ground, and penetrates it obliquely; how
far has not yet been ascertained. At the time I saw it about
two feet had been exposed. The diameter is about eight
inches. Its colour is white, sometimes resembling that of
wood. The fibres are well preserved, and so is the general
structure. It is much to be desired, that some one would clear
it from its bed, and give it entire to one of our mineralogical
cabinets.

Geological Features.

Next to the alluvial and secondary formations, as you pass
to the west and north-west, are to be found ranges of granite
and shistose, and other primitive rocks; interspersed with
these may be seen sandstone, clay, slate, quartz, and limestone.
Granite ranges were particularly seen in the neighbourhood of
Fredericksburgh, crossing the Rappahannock ; and in Orange
and Albemarle counties, extending nearly to the Blue Ridge.
Great quantities of quartz and quartz-rock, sometimes cover-
ing with their fragments the sides of hills, are frequent. An-
other and more interesting rock in the same connexion, is found
in Albemarle county. For sume time I doubted to what class
to refer it. But from its resemblance to the rocks of the east
and west mountains near New Haven, I ventured to call it trap,
or whinstone. It becomes more abundant as you approach the
Blue Ridge, and the granite disappears. On the sides and
summit of the mountain its appearance is more decidedly that
of greenstone. In crossing the south-west mountain, the range
to which Monticello belongs, and distant from the Blue Ridge

ee ee ee ae, ee ee ee ee ee ee ee er)

» COn~

senta-
y pil-
trical
nty in
work-
pense
2 spe-
‘neral

on of
‘eder-
rth of
} 81Ze,
t was
. and
It is
- how
about
eight
at of
‘neral
clear

gical

pass
anite
with
tone.
d of
ange
hae.
pver-
An-

ound

‘lass

east
trap,
h the
and
that

ange
idge

Blue Ridge. 99

about twenty-five miles, I observed the same rock. Whether
this opinion is just, you will be able to decide from the speci-
mens which have been forwarded.

Blue Ridge.

I have repeatedly named the Blue Ridge. It is the first of
those long and parallel ranges of mountains, called the Alle-
ghany; and constitutes one of the most prominent features in
the geology of the United States. Its height I cannot deter-
mine with accuracy. Probably it would not average more than
one thousand feet. Its base may extend in diameter from one
to two miles; and yet such is the influence it has on the cli-
mate, that vegetation on the eastern is usually two weeks ear-
lier than on the western side. And, what is remarkable, this
difference obtains, on the former side, at least, until you arrive
within a few hundred yards of the summit. I crossed the
mountain in two places, distant from each other one hundred
miles, but observed nothing essentially different in their mine-
ralogy. At one of them, called the Rockfish-Gap, on the road
from Charlotteville to Staunton, I spent a few hours,and brgught
away. specimens of ali the varieties of minerals which I could
find. These have been submitted to your inspection. Among
them you will, I think, see greenstone, epidote, and slate, more
or less a!tied to the first. “hese are the most common rocks,
and, excepting the second, are usually stratified. The epidote
is generally associated with quartz, and sometimes is imbedded
in it, In some instances it has a porphyritic appearance, and
is very beautiful. In otbers, it is coated with small filaments
of a greenish asbestos. Other minerals were found, whose
nature I could not so easily determine. I regret exceedingly
that I cannot furnish you with a more complete description of
this interesting mountain, That its character is peculiar, or
different from the country on either side of it, must be obvious
to the most supericial observer. [1s principal rock does in-
deed bear a resemblance to the trap or whinstone of Albe-
marle county, and yet I think you will say it is not the same.
One fact of importance cannot be mistaken ; this mountain con-
stitutes the great dividing line between the granite and lime-
stone countries. For you no sooner reach its western base,
than the greenstone and epidote disappear ; and limestone per-
vades the country for hundreds of miles in every direction. In
all the distance from this mountain to New Orleans, I did not
find a single specimen of granite, or greenstone. This may
appear singular, since Mr. Maclure and Professor Cleveland
have a granite range on their maps, immediately west of the
Blue Ridge ; and even that mountain is on those maps, in some
O 2

i00 Tour through Virginia, Sc.

pre of it, covered with the granitic tinge. This may be true.
can answer for only two points of it, and for that part of the
country beyond, lying near the main road to Tennessee. In
this route I descended almost the whole length of the great
valley included between the Blue Ridge on the east, and the
north mountain on the west. But in no instance did I meet
with specimens of granite; nor west of the Blue Ridge with
any prevailing rock but limestone. I know of no reason why
the Blue Ridge should not be regarded as the first great di-
viding line between the granite and limestone countries. The
change in the geological formation is so sudden and striking,
that it would be difficult for the most careless traveller, with
his eyes open, not to observe it. The face of nature, he can-
not but perceive, wears a different aspect; the air is more
cocl and lively; even the water which he drinks possesses
new properties poop to his taste. The inhabitants no
longer speak of their “sandstone water;” but every where
he hears of “limestone water.” Indeed, for 800 miles in the
direction which I travelled, he tastes no other water. Every
spring and every rivulet is strongly impregnated with carbo-
nate of lime. T'he vessels in which it is prepared for culinary
use, soon become lined with a white calcareous crust. Nor ts
its taste the only inconvenience experienced by the traveller

unaccustomed toit. It often injures the health of a stranger,
and covers the surface of the body with cutaneous eruptions.

Limestone Country in inclined Strata.

The geological observer has now entered upon a very in-
teresting field. Its great extent, and its wonderful uniformity,
give new facilities to investigation. Two divisions of it seem
to have been made in nature. an

The first is that which includes the limestone lying in 1N-
CLINED STRATA. This division extends from the Blue Ridge
to the Cumberland mountain in East Tennessee, a distance in
the direction of my route of 500 miles. Of caurse it includes
all the ranges, five in number, of the Alleghany mountains.
The strata lie in a course north-east and south-west, the samc
as the general course of the mountains. The angle which
they make with the horizon is very variable, from 25° to 45°.
The colour of the rock varies from blue, and pale blue, to grey,
or greyish white; frequently it presents a dull earthy appear-
ance, The fracture is more or tess conchoidal. Sometimes
the rock assumes a different character, and the fracture is un-
even, and the texture firm. This last is distinguished from the
former, not only by the fracture, but by the colour. It is
usually spoken of by the inhabitants as the grey limestone, the

a a ee eee ee ee ee ee

ath —_ ro eb

—_

~ A wes elle, ee ee ee lel lO

true.
of the
. In
reat
id the
meet
1Ww
at di
The
iking,
» with
2 can-
more
sesses
its no
where
in the
Every
carbo-
linary
Nor is
aveller
anger,
ions.

ry in-
rmity,
seem

in IN-
Ridge
nce in
cludes
ntains.

same
which
0 45°.
p grey,
ppear-
etimes
is uh-
om the
It is
e, the

Limestone Country. 101

colour of the other being usually of a bluish cast. It differs
from that also by being less brittle, and possessing the quality
denominated by stone-cutters “tough.” In consequence of
this, and its enduring heat better, it is more frequently used in
building than the other, This variety of limestone is not un-
common. Its colour is not always grey, sometimes it is a red-
dish brown, and sometimes white. Immense quantities of it,
possessing either a greyish or yeddish brown colour, are found
in the vicinity of Knoxville, East Tennessee. One range of
it is crossed by every road, passing to the south and east of
Knoxville. Its appearance is that of some variegated marbles ;
white veins penetrate it, and wind through it in every direc-
tion. Whether any part of it has a texture sufficiently fine
and firm to be wrought to advantage, is yet to be determined.
To the eye of a superficial observer, there are many indica-
tions that it has. A specimen of very fine white marble, re-
sembling the Italian white, was shewn me in Augusta county,
Virginia, which was found fifteen miles from Staunton, where
there is said to be a considerable quantity of it.

Limestone Country in Horizontal Strata.

The second great division of the limestone country extends,
on the route which I took, two hundred miles from the Cum-
berland mountain, and others associated with it south-west, as
far as the Dividing Ridge, which separates the waters flowing
into the Tennessee from those which proceed direct to the
gulf of Mexico. The grand circumstance which distinguishes
the limestone of this division from that already described, is
this, ITS STRATA ARE HORIZONTAL. Frequently immense piles
may be seen forming bold precipices, but always in horizontal
layers, differing in thickness from a few inches to many feet.
Tlow far this arrangement extends to the west and north, £
have not yet been able to learn. Travellers always speak of
the limestone rocks in West Tennessee and Kentucky as flat,
from which circumstance I conclude, that the Cumberland
mountain forms, for a considerable. distance at least, the eastern
boundary. I have observed but three other particulars in
which the strata of the horizontal differ from those of the in-
clined limestone.

1. Its colour is not so strongly marked with the bluish tinge.

2. It is not so commonly penetrated with white veins of a
semicrystallized carbonate of lime; nor is it so frequently as-
sociated with the uneven fractured species.

3. Petrifications are oftener found in it.

I will here take the liberty to suggest, whether, in our maps
of geology, some notice should not be taken of this very im-

102 Tour through Virginia, §c.

portant division in the limestone country. Such a division ex-
ists in fact; nature has made it; and if geology depends on
nature for its only legitimate inductions, there can be no reason
why a feature so prominent as this should be overlooked. I
shall not undertake to account for their difference: but would
not every geological theorist consider them as distinct for-
mations ? *

Cumberland Mountain.

The Cumberland mountain, which forms a part of this di-
viding line, is itself a singular formation, It belongs to the
class called * Table mountains.” Its width varies from a few
miles, to more than fifty. Its height is not perceptibly different
from that of the Blue Ridge. It forms a circuit, in a shape
somewhat resembling a half-moon. Winding to the south-west,
it keeps a course north of the Tennessee river, in some places
vearly paraliel with it; passes a few miles to the south-east of
Huntsville in the Alabama territory, and not long after ter-
minates. At one part, over which Tersescd, the mountain is
eighteen miles wide. This is about 160 miles south-west of
Knoxville, a little north of the 35th degree of N. Lat. I bad
not ascended the mountain more than half-way, before I found
sandstone begin to intermingle with limestone strata. As I
drew near the summit, the limestone disappeared entirely, and
sandstone prevailed in abundance, with no other miueral asso-
ciated until I reached the western descent, where I met bold
precipices of horizontal limestone, reaching from the base to
the summit. I examined several sandstone-rocks while cross-
ing the mountain, found them usually imbedded in the earth,
generally with flat surfaces, of a fine grain, and strong texture.
The colour is usually a reddish brown, or greyish red. ‘The
specimen which you have received is a good example. I
crossed this mountain in the vicinity of Huntsville, not less
than 100 miles south-west of the place above-mentioned, and
found it not wider than mountains commonly are. Its height
had also become less, and horizontal limestone in regular strata
prevailed in every part.

SS

* The modesty of the writer has prevented him from applying to the forma-
tions which he has well described, the terms transition and secondary, which
there can be little doubt do, in fact, belong to them. His strata of highly
inclined limestone appear to belong to the transition class of Werner, and
his flat strata to the secondary. It may be observed, in this place, that the
specimens alluded to in the text (passim,) appear to be correctly described
by Mr. Cornelius, and to justify his geological inferences as far as hand-spe-
cimens, secn at a distance from their native beds, can form a safe basis fox
general geological inductions, |

= 6

s di-
o the
a few
erent
shape
-west,
ylaces
ast of
r ter-
ain is
est of
T bad
found
As I
y, and
aSso-
bold
se to
cross-
earth,
xture.

The
e. I
bt less
1, and
reight
strata

forma-
, which
highly
r, and
hat the
scribed
1d-spe-
asis fox

Scenery. 103

Although this mountain forms a part of the dividing line
which has been mentioned, it does not exclusively so: for the
Rackoon mountain, which crosses the Tennessee river, at the
place so well known by the name of “the Suck,” and the
Look-Out mountain, which terminates abruptly about six miles
to the left of “the Suck,” form an acute angle with the Cum-
berland, and are composed of horizontal strata of limestone.
Thus, it would appear, the line which divides the two kingdoms

of this rock is nearly north and south, inclining, perhaps, a
few points to the east and west.

Scenery.

And here I cannot forbear pausing a moment to call your
attention to the grand and picturesque scenery which opens to
the view of the admiring spectator. The country is still
possessed by the aborigines, and the hand of civilization has
done but little to soften the wild aspect of nature. The Ten-
nessee river, having concentrated into one mass the nume-
rous streams it has received in its course of three or four
hundred miles, glides through an extended valley with a rapid
and overwhelming current, half-a-mile in width. At this place,
a group of mountains stand ready to dispute its progress. First,
the “ Look-Out,” an independent range, commencing thirty
miles below, presents, opposite the river’s course, its bold and
rocky termination of two thousand feet. Around its brow is a
pallisade of naked rocks, from seventy to one hundred feet.
The river flows upon its base, and instantly twines to the
right. Passing on for six miles further, it turns again, and
is met by the side of the Rackoon mountain. Collecting its
strength into a channel of seventy yards, it severs the moun-
tain, and rushes tumultuously through the rocky defile, wafting
the trembling navigator at the rate of a mile in two or three
minutes. This passage is called “The Suck.” ‘The summit
of the Look-Out mountain overlooks the whole country. And
to those who can be delighted with the view of an intermina-
ble forest, penetrated by the windings of a bold river, inter-
spersed with hundreds of verdant prairies, and broken by
many ridges and mountains, furnishes, in the month of May,
a landscape which yields to few others in extent, variety, or
beauty. Even the aborigines have not been insensible to its
charms; for in the name which they have given to the Look-
Out mountain we have a laconic, but very striking description
of the scenery. This name, in the Cherokee language, with-
out the aspirated sounds, is O-tulléé-ton-tannd-td-kunnd-Ce ;

literally, ‘mountains looking at each other.”
I have already remarked that the limestone of this mountain

Fei tyne

104 Tour through Virginia, §c.

lies in horizontal strata: one mile east from its base it is in-
clined. Like the Cumberland, it contains immense rocks of
sandstone, but of a coarser grain, verging occasionally into
pudding-stone. I was told by a white man, a professed mill-
wright, that among these sandstone-rocks, he new of many
which were suitable for millstones. At the missionary estab-
lishment, called “ Brainerd,” eight miles east of the mountain,
1 saw one of them which was used for this purpose to much
advantage. It is composed of fine and large grains of silicious
stones, nearly white, and resembling pebbles of white quartz:
ihe texture is firm.

Silicious Minerals, $c.

I will now notice an important fact, applicable to the whole
extent of limestone country which has come under my obser-
vation. It is its association with a description of minerals, all
of which appear to be silicious. To describe them minutely
would require several pages. From the time I entered the
limestone country till I left it this association was observed.
The minerals included in it differ much in their external
character. Their size varies from that of rocks to the smallest
fragments. Usually they lie loose upon the earth, in angular
forms, having the appearance of a stone that has been broken
in pieces by the hammer. Sometimes they cover the sides of
hilis and mountains in such abundance as to prevent or impede
vegetation. When the disintegration is minute, they are ser-
viceable rather than otherwise; and the farmer talks of his
“good black,” or “white gravel land.” It renders this ser-
vice, I presume, not by decomposition, but by preventing the
soil and its manure from being washed away. Indeed, the
different varieties of it are generally scattered over the surface,
in pieces so small, that, for convenience-sake, the whole may be
denominated a silicious gravel. |

Sometimes the mineral is imbedded in limestone, in the
form of nodules, thus indicating their original connexion
with it.

The varieties, so far as I have observed, are quartz, horn-
stone, flint, jasper, and semi-opal; and several, which to me
are non-descripts. Quartz is the most abundant. It is found
of different colours; compact, and porous or cellular; of every
size; simple and associated with other silicious stones ; mas-
sive and crystallized. In Augusta and Rockbridge counties in
Virginia, beautiful crystals of quartz, of a singular form, are

found. They are six-sided prisms, with double acuminations,

that is, with six-sided pyramids, mounted on the opposite ends
of the prism. A specimen of two such crystals united, you

i)

: a a

is in-
cks of
y into
| mill-

many
estab-
intain,
much
licious
juartz :

whole
obser-
als, all
inutely
ed the
served.
xternal
mallest
angular
broken
sides of
impede
are sere
of his
his ser-
ing the
bed, the
surface,
may be

in the
nnexion

z, horn-
h to me
is found
of every
S$ mas-
unties in
rm, are

site ends

inations,’

ed, you

Caves. 105

have received. It was fuund near Lexington. A curious va-
riety of the quartz gravel-stone occurs on both sides of Elk
river, a few miles above its junction with the Tennessee, in the
Alabama territory. As you travel to the west from Hunts-.
ville, it appears first in the neighbourhood of Fort Hampton,
two miles east of Elk river, and may be seen for ten miles
west of that river. The mineral is remarkable for containing
a curious petrifaction. Its first appearance is that of a solid
screw. On examination, however, you fiud it is not spiral,
but consists of parallel concentric layers. Their diameter
varies in different specimens, from that of a pin to half an inch.
They stand in the centre of a hollow cylinder, extending: its
whole length, and occupying about one-third of its dimen-
sions, The stone is sometimes perfectly filled with these
forms. The petrifaction I could not have named had you not
pronounced it the “ Entrochite.”

Hornstone, next to quartz, is the most abundant of the sili-
cious minerals associated with limestone. It is very often
seen imbedded in rounded masses, both in the inclined and
horizontal strata.

Flint is more rare. Several fine specimens were observed
on the western declivity of the Look-Out Mountain, but in no’
instances in large masses or quantities.

Semi-Opal was found in one instance on the dividing ridge,
which constitutes the south-western boundary of the lime-stone
strata.

Of the non-descripts you have several specimens. One
variety strikes fire with steel, is a milk-white colour, adheres
slightly to the tongue, and has no degree of translucency on
its edges. As Mr. Kain has furnished you with an interesting
detail of particular minérals found in East Tennessee an
Western Virginia, I need not recapitulate what he has so
well said.

_E will conclude this part of the narrative with a brief notice
of afew curiositiés occurring in the region which has been
described.

Caves. .

1. It is well known that it furnishes a great number of in-
teresting caves. They are found alike im the inclised and
horizontal strata. Some of them are several miles in extent,
and afford fine specimens of earthy and alkaline salts.

Wier’s cave, in Virginia, has been described by Mr. Kain.
I have in my possession a map of its most important apart-
ments, including its whole length, copied from a survey made
by Mr. J. Pack, in October, 1806; also the notes of another
Vovaaes and Travers, No.2. Vol. FI. P

aes.
ee 8.

106 Tour through Virginia, §c.

survey made in May, 1816, by the Rev. Conrad Speece, of
Augusta county, and Mr. Robert Grattan; which, with an
explanation, and particular description, I hope to be able to
transmit to you at a future time.

From these surveys, it appears that the whole extent of the
cave, hitherto discovered, does not exceed eight hundred yards.
This was the length stated to me by the guide, when I visited
it in ng Sa 1817. I cannot but think have is some mistake
in Mr. Kain’s remark, that “ it is a mile and a half in extent.”
IT spent four hours in examining every accessible part, and by
permission of Mr. Henry Bingham, the owner, made a large
collection of specimens, which were transmitted for the cabinet

of Yale College.
The Natural Bridge.

2.. My object in naming this celebrated curiosity, is not to
give a new description of dt, but merely to furnish a correct
account of its dimensions.. I visited it in company with the
Rev. Mr. Huson, who had previously found its height, by a
cord, to be two hundred and ten feet. We now found it, b
the quadrant, to be two hundred and eleven feet, and the acek
through the centre about forty feet.

Some have attempted to account for this great curiosity, by
supposing that a convulsion in nature may have rent the hill
in which it stands asunder, thus forming the deep and narrow
defile over which the rocky strata were left, which constitute
its magnificent areh. If so, the sides should have correspond-
ing parts. Ata distance from the base no such correspond-
ence is perceptible. At the base, the rocks are more or less
craggy and irregular. This led me to take the courses and
distances of each side. The following was the result:

Eastern side presents 4 angular points. || Western side presents 3 angular points,

t. N. 55° W. lichain. 09 links. || 1. N. 50° W. 0. chain. 45 links.
2, N.72 W. 1 054 ——|| 2. N. 67 W.1 —— 123 —
3. N. 57 W.1— 123 —— | 3. N. 77. W.1—— 44 ——
4. N. 50 W.0 — 33 —

The chain used contained 50 links, equal to 333 feet.
The distance between the abutments at the north end of their
bases is 80 feet, at the south end 66 feet. As they ascend, the
distance is greater. These data give the following diagram :—

¢, of
th an
ble to’

of the
vards.
isited
istake
tent.”
| d by
large
Abinet

ot to

orrect
h the
by a

it, b
beat

ty, by
“4 hill
arrow
stitute:
pond-
acnd
r less
s and

' points,

5 links.
24 ——

4 —

| feet.
f their
id, the
am :—

A River flowing from a Cave.

Although considerable resemblance appears at the base, yet
as no such correspondence is visible forty feet above it, and the
sides for the whole remaining distance to the arch, one hun-
dred and thirty feet, lose their craggy ‘appearance entirely,
and present the smooth, irregular surface of the oldest rocks.

The following anecdote will evince the effect which the
sight of the natural bridge produced on a servant, who, with-
out having received any definite or adequate ideas of what he
was to see, attended his master to this spot.

On the summit of, the hill, or from the top of the bridge,
the view is not more awful than that which is seen from the
brink of a hundred other precipices. The grand prospect is
from below. To reach it you must descend the hill by a blind
path, which winds through a thicket of trees, and terminates
at the instant when the whole bridge, with its broad sides and
lofty arch, all of solid rock, appears perfectly in sight. Not
one in a thousand can forbear to make an involuntary pause ;
but the servant, who had hitherto followed his master, without
meeting with any thing particularly to arrest his attention,
had no sooner arrived at this point, and caught a glance of
the object which burst upon his vision, than he fell upon his
knees, fixed in wonder and admiration.

A. River flowing from a Cave.

3. I will next mention a singular cave, which I do not re-
member ever to have seen described. It is situated in the
Cherokee country, at Nicojack, the north-western angle in the
map of Georgia, and is known by the name of the Nicojack
cave. It is twenty miles S. W, of the Look-Out mountain, and
half-a-mile from the south bank of the Tennessee river. The

106 Tour through Virginia, $c.

Rackoon mountain, in which it is situated, here fronts to the
north-east. Immense layers of horizontal limestone form a
precipice of considerable height. In this precipice the cave
commences; not however with an opening of a few feet, as is
common, but with a mouth fifiy feet high, and one hundred
and sixty wide. Its roof is formed by a solid and regular
layer of limestone, having no support but the sides of the
cave, and as level as the floor of a house. The entrance is
sartly obstructed by piles of fallen rocks, which appear to have
biti dislodged by some great convulsion, From its entrance,
the cave consists chiefly of one grand excavation through the
rocks, preserving for a great distance the same dimensions as
at its mouth,

What is more remarkable than all, it forms, for the whole
distance it has yet been explored, a walled and vaulted pas-
sage, for a stream of cool and limpid water, which, where it
leaves the cave, is six feet deep and sixty feet wide. A few
years since, Col. James Ore, of Tennessee, commencing early
in the morning, followed the course of this creek in a canoe,
for three miles. He then came to a fall of water, and was
obliged to return without making any further discovery.
Whether he penetrated three milés up the cave or not, it isa
fact he did not return till the evening, having been busily
engaged in his subterranean voyage for twelve hours. He
stated that the course of the cave, after proceeding some way

to the south-west, became south; and south-east-by-south the
remaining distance.

Natural Nitre.

The sides of the principal excavation present a few apart-
ments which are interesting, principally because they furnish
large quantities of the earth from which the nitrate of potash
is obtained, This is a circumstance very common to the caves
of the western country. In that at Nicojack it abounds, and
is found covering the surfaces of fallen rocks, but in more
abundance beneath them. ‘There are two kinds, one is called
the “clay dirt,” the other the “black dirt;” the last is much
more strongly impregnated than the first. For several years
there has been a considerable manufacture of saltpetre from
this earth. The process is by lixiviation and crystallization,
and is very simple. The earth is thrown into a hopper, and
the fluid obtained passed through another of ashes, the alkali
of which decomposes the earthy nitrate, and uniting with its
acid, which contains chiefly nitrate of lime, turns it into nitrate
of potash. The precipitated lime gives the mass a whitish
colour, and the consistence of curdled milk. By allowing it

» the
ma
cave
aS is
tred
‘ular
the
ce is
have
ince,
1 the
1s as

hole
pas-
re it
few
arly
noe,
was
very.
Lisa
usily
He
way
the

art-
nish
btash
aves
and
ore
Hed
uch
rears
from
tion,
and
Ikali
its
rate
itish
g it

Mounds. 109

to stand in a large trough, the precipitate, which is principally
lime, subsides, and the superincumbent fluid, now an alkaline
instead of an earthy nitrate, is carefully removed and boiled
for some time in iron-kettles, till it is ready to crystallize. It
is then removed again to a large trough, in which it shoots into
crystals. It is now called “rough shot-petre.” In this state
it is sent to market, and sells usually for sixteen dollars per
hundred weight. Sometimes it is dissolved in water, re-
boiled, and re-crystallized, when it is called refined, and sells
for twenty dollars per hundred. One bushel of the clay dirt
yields from three to five pounds, and the black dirt from
seven to ten pounds of the rough shot-petre. The same dirt,
if returned to the cave, and scattered on the rocks, or mingled
with the new earth, becomes impregnated with the nitrate
again, and in a few months may be thrown into the hopper,
and be subjected to a new process.

The causes which have produced the nitric salts of these
caves, may not yet have been fully developed. But it is
highly probable they are to be ascribed to the decomposition
of animal substances.

It is reasonable to suppose, that in an uncultivated country
they would become the abodes of wild animals, and even of
savage men. That they have been used by the natives as
burial-places, is certain. In one which I entered, I counted
a hundred human skulls, in the space of twenty feet square.
All the lesser and more corruptible parts of each skeleton had
mouldered to dust, and the whole lay in the greatest confusion.
I have heard of many such caves, and to this day some of the
Indians are known to deposit their dead in them. From the
decomposition of such substances, it is well known the acid of
the nitric salts arises, and it would of course unite with the
Jime every where present, and form nitrate of lime.

Mounds.

4. I have but one more article of curiosity to mention under
this division. It is one of those artificial mounds which occur
so frequently in the western country. I bave seen many of
them, and read of more; but never of one of such dimensions
as that which I am now to describe.

It is situated in the interior of the Cherokee nation, on the
north side of the Etowee, vulgarly called Hightower River,
one of the branches of the Koosee. It stands upon a strip of
alluvial land, called River Bottom. I visited it in company
with eight Indian chiefs. The first object which excited at-
tention was an excavation about twenty feet wide, and in some
parts ten feet deep. Its course is nearly that of a semicircle ;

110 " Travels through Virginia, §:c.*

the extremities extending towards the river, which forms a
small elbow. I had not time to examine it minutely. An
Indian said it extended each way to the river, and had several
unexcavated parts, which served for passages to the area which
it encloses. Ty my surprise, I found ib embankment on either
side of it. But I did not long doubt to what place the earth
had been removed; for I had scarcely proceeded two hundred
yards, when, through the thick forest-trees, a stupendous pile
met the eye, whose dimensions were in full proportion to the
entrenchment. I had at the time no means of taking an accu-
rate admeasurement. To supply my deficiency, I cut a long
vine, which was preserved until I had an opportunity of as-
certaining its exact length. In this manner T found the dis-
tance, from the margin of the summit to the base, to be one
hundred and eleven feet ; and, judging from the degree of its
declivity, the perpendicular height cannot be less than seventy-

five feet. The circumference of the base, including the feet of

three parapets, measured one thousand one hundred and four-
teen feet. One of these parapets extends from the base to the
summit, and can be ascended, though with difficulty, on horse-
back. The other two, after rising thirty or forty feet, ter-
minate in a kind of triangular olecform. Its top is level, and,
at the time I visited it, was so completely covered with weeds,
bushes, and trees of most luxuriant growth, that I could not
examine it as well as IT wished. Its Hlathieter, I judged, must
be one hundred and fifty feet. On its sides and summit are
many large trees of the same description, and of equal dimen-
sions with those around it. One beach-tree, near the top,
measured ten feet nine inches in circumference. The earth
on one side of the tree was three and a half feet lower than on
the opposite side, This fact will give a good idea of the de-
gree of the mound’s declivity. An oak, which was lying down
on one of the parapets, measured, at the distance of six feet
from the butt, without the bark, twelve feet four inches in
circumference. Ata short distance tothe south-east is another
mound, in ascending which I took thirty steps. Its top is
encircled by a breast-work three feet high, intersected through
the middle with another elevation of a similar kind. A little
farther is another mound, which I had not time to examine.
On these great works of art, the Indians gazed with as much
curiosity as any white man. IT inquired of the oldest chief, if
the natives had any tradition respecting them; to which he
answered in the negative. I then requested each to say what
he supposed was their origin. Neither could tell; though all
agreed in saying, “they were never put up by our people.”
Ft seems probable they were erected by another race, who

ow

od

st Ot «= tp @lan "th acl Gla "“% ath

INS a
| An
pveral
which
either
earth
ndred
is pile
to the
accu-
: long
of as-
e dis-
ye one
of its
renty-
feet of
four-
to the
10rse~
, ter-
» and,
veeds,
ld not
must
it are
imen-
> top,
earth
an on
ie de-
down
< feet
les In
other
top is
‘ough
little
1e.
much
jief, if
eh he

what

Alluvial Formation. Ht

once inhabited the country. That such a race existed, is now
generally admitted, Who they were, and what were the
causes of their Rogonaracy, or of their extermination, no cir-
cumstances have yet explained. But this is no reason why
we should not, as in a hundred other instances, infer the ex-
istence of the cause from its effects, without any previous
knowledge of its history.

In regard to the objects which these mounds were designed
to answer, it is obviows they were not always the same. Some
were intended as receptacles for the dead. These are small,
and are distinguished by containing human bones, Some may
have been designed as sites for public buildings, whether of a
civil or religious kind, and others no doubt were constructed
for the purposes of war. Of this last description is the Etowee
mound, In proof of its suitableness for such a purpose, I
need only mention, that the Cherokees, in their late war with
the Creeks, secured its summit by pickets, and occupied it as
a place of protection for hundreds of their women and children.
Gladly would Thave spent a day in examining it more mi-
nutely ; but my companions, unable to appreciate my motives,
grew impatient, and I was obliged to withdraw, and leave a
nore perfect observation and description to some one else.

Alluvial Formation.

I will now call your attention to the last geological division
which came under my observation. It is the alluvial tract
extending from the Dividing Ridge already mentioned, to the
Gulf of Mexico. This ridge is the last range of high land
which I crossed on the journey to New Orleans, and lies about
six hundred miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. Its course at
the place I crossed it, is a little south of west. It divides the
waters of the Tennessee from those which proceed directly
to the Gulf. Travellers always observe it. They often men-
tioned it to me as the southern boundary of the stony country.

- After crossing it, you see no more limestone; and, which ex-

cites more joy in the traveller, no more of the silicious gravel
with which it is associated, and which is so troublesome to the
feet of horses. The soil consists of a soft clay, or light sand,
on which you seldom meet with a stone of any kind. The
surface of the earth is undulating and hilly, but not mountain-
ous. The water-courses do not move rapidly and tumultu-
ously, as in the limestone country, but form in the soft earth
deep trenches, through which they glide smoothly and silently
along. The smallest rivulet often hasa trench ten feet deep;
and the earth over which it passes, is continually yielding to
its gentle attrition.

ee

|

112 Tour through Virginia, ge.

The only minerals which I observed, are sandstone, common
and ferruginous; silicious pebbles in beds of creeks, and oc-
casionally on the uplands; earthy ores of iron, particularly
red oxides, and petrifactions of shells, wood, &c. In addition
to these, it may here be mentioned, that galena has been found
in small quantities at Gibson’s Port, and at Ellis’s Cliffs, in
the state of Mississippi: a crystal of amethyst, in the same
state, by Mr. Blannerhasset; and a great variety of useful
ochres, in many places on the banks of the Mississippi.

In the geological map attached to Professor Cleaveland’s
Mineralogy, the alluvial country bordering on the Gulf of
Mexico is represented as terminating at Natchez. But why
its termination is placed here I am unable to understand.
The country above and below Natchez, so far as it has come
under my observation, presents no difference of appearance in
its geology or mineralogy. I am aware that at Natchez,
when the water of the Mississippi is lowest, a soft rock is seen,
from which lime has been obtained. But this rock is two
hundred feet below the surface of the adjoining country; and
admitting that it is a limestone rock, there is no difficulty in
supposing it may constitute the basis of the alluvial deposit
which rests upon it. That the incumbent earth is alluvial, can
be doubted T think by no one who has had an opportunity of
examining it. By means of a road, which has been cut ob-
liquely down the side of the bluff, distinct layers of clay, sand,
and pebbles, have been exposed for the whole distance from
the summit to the base. The same character is observed at
a distance from the river, where the earth has been excavated
by washing, or digging. In the vicinity of the town there is
a curious exhibition of the fact. A stream of water has worn
away the earth to the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, and is
continually lengthening the chasm, in the direction opposite
to its own course. Thus, as the water flows from the town,
the chasm approaches it. In examining the cause of this fact,
I perceived it was owing chiefly to the difference of cohesion
in the alluvial deposits, of which the earth is formed. That
at the surface, being a thick loam, wears away with more dif-
ficulty than the deposit below it, which consists of a loose sand.
The consequence is, that the water, which has once obtained
a perpendicular passage of a few inches through the first,
washes away the second with such rapidity, that it 1s constantly
undermining it. This occasions a perpetual caving in of the
surface, in a direction opposite to the course of the stream.
The same fact is observed in many parts of the country fora
great distance above Natchez. If there be wanting any other
fact to prove that the earth on which the town of Natchez

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|

Allusial Formation. 113

stands is alluvial, it is found in the effect which the Mississippi
has upon the base of the Natchez bluff. In consequetice of a
bend in the river, the whole force of its current is thrown
against this base. If it consisted of solid rock, the river
would probably have no effect upun it; but of such loose and
friable materials is it composed, that the river is continually
undermining it, and producing effects not less to be dreaded
than those of an earthquake. Several years ago, a great
number of acres sunk fifty feet or more below the general sur-
face of the hill; and, in 1805, there was another caving of that

art directly over the small village at the landing. Several
houses were buried in consequence of it, and strong fears are
entertained by the inhabitants, that the’same cause will yet
submerge in the Mississippi the whole of the present landing-
place.

These facts, I think you will say, furnish satisfactory evi-
dence of the alluvial character of the country at Nachez.
The same character belongs to the whole extent south of the
Dividing Ridge. This may be safely inferred from the general
features of the country. But Ihave two facts of a geological
kind to mention, both of which go to confirm the opinion,

1, A well was dug in the Choctaw nation, at the agency of
the United States, in the year 1812 or 1813, under the direc-
tion of Silas Dinsmore, Esq. the agent. The excavation was
continued to the depth of one hundred and seventy-two feet.
No water was found. At no great distance from the surface,
marine exuvie were found in abundance. The shells were
small, and imbedded in a soft clay, similar to marine earth.
This formation continued till the excavation ceased. Disper-
sed through it, were found lumps of selenite, or foliated gyp-
sum, some of which were half as large as a man’s fist. Speer-
mens of the earth, the exuvie, and the selenite, have been
transmitted for your examination. This excavation was made
one hundred and twenty miles north-north-east of Natchez.
The Pearl River is four miles to the east of the place, and ts
the only considerable stream in this part of the country.

2. In the Chickasaw nation, one hundred and seventy miles
north of the Chectaw agency, commence beds of oyster-shells,
which continue to be seen at intervals tor twelve niles. Four
miles from the first bed, you come to what is called © Chicka-
saw Old Town,” where they are observed in greai abundance.
They are imbedded in low ridges of a white marl, | Phey ap-
pear to be of two kinds. Specimens of each, and also of the
marl, you have received. “ Chickasaw Old Town,” is a name
now appropriated to a prairie, on a part of which there for-
merly stood a small village of Chickasaws. The prairie is

Vovaces and Travers, Vo. 2. Vol. IT. Q

114 Tour through Virginia, §e.

twenty miles long and four wide. The shells occur in three
places as you cross it, and again, on two contiguous hills to
the east of it, at the distance of four miles. They do not cover
the surface merely. They form a constituent part of the hills
or plains in which they are found. Wherever the earth has
been washed so as to produce deep gutters, they are seen in
greatest abundance. Nor are they petrifactions, such as are
found in rocks. They have the same appearance as common
oyster-shells ; they lie loose on the earth, and thus indicate a
comparatively recent origin. They occur three handred miles
north-east of Natchez, and but sixty miles south of the Divide
ing Ridge.

{f the country north of Natchez is alluvial, no one will doubt
it is so from this place to the Gulf of Mexico. At Baton
Rouge, one hundred and forty miles north of New Orleans, you
meet the first elevated land in ascending from the Gulf. The
hanks of the Mississippi are higher than the interior, and would
be annually overflowed by the river, but for a narrow embank-
nicnt of earth about six feet high, called the Levee. By
means of this, a narrow strip of land, from half a mile to a

mile in width, is redeemed, and cultivated with cotton and the -

sugar-cane, to the great advantage of the planter. Generally,
within one mile from the river, there is an impenetrable morass.
The country has every where the appearance of an origin
comparatively recent. Not a rock on which you can stand,
and no mountain to gladden the eye, you seem to have left
the older parts of creation to witness the encroachments which
the earth Is continually making upon the empire of the sea;

and, on arriving at the mouth of the Mississippi, you find the’

grand instruments of nature in active operation, producing with:
slow, but cerfain gradations, the same results.

A desiructive Insect.

Bat I will not enlarge on a fact already familiar. I will ask
your further indulgence only, while ] communicate an authen-
tic and curious fact for the information of the zoologist.

In the Choctaw country, one hundred and thirty miles
north-east of Natchez, a part of the public road is rendered
famous on account of the periodical return of a poisonous and
destructive fly. Contrary to the custom of other insects, it
always appears when the cold weather commences in Decem-
ber, and as invariably disappears on the approach of warm
weather, which is about the Ist of April. It is said to have’
been remarked first in the winter of 1807, during a snow-
storms; when its effects upon cattle and horses were observed
to be similar to those of the gnat and musqueto, in summer,

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A destructive Insect. 118

éxcept that they were more severe. It continues to return at
the same season of the year, without producing extensive mis-
chief, until the winter of 1816, when it began to be generally
fatal to the horses of travellers. So far as I recollect, it was
stated, that from thirty to forty travelling horses were de-
stroyed during this winter. The consequences were alarming.
{n the wilderness, where a man’s horse ts his chief de-
pendance, the traveller was surprised and distressed to see
the beast sicken and die in convulsions, sometimes within
three hours after encountering this little insect. Or, if the
animal were fortunate enough to live, a sickness followed,
commonly attended with a sudden and entire shedding of the
hair, which rendered the brute unfit for use. Unwilling to
believe that effects so dreadful could be produced by a cause
apparently trifling, travellers began to suspect that the In-
dians, or others, of whom they obtained food for their horses,
had, for some base and selfish end, mingled poison with it.
The greatest precaution was observed. They refused to stop
at any house on the way, and carried, for the distance of forty
or fifty miles, their own provision ; but, after all, suffered the
same calamities. This excited a serious inquiry into the true
cause of their distress. ‘The fly, which has been mentioned,
was known to be a most singular insect, and peculiarly trou
blesome to horses. At length it was admitted by all, that the
cause of the evils complained of could be no other than this
insect. Other precautious have since been observed, particu-
larly that of riding over the road infested with it in the nights;
and now it happens that comparatively few horses are de-
stroyed. Iam unable to describe it from my own observation.
I passed over the same road in April last, only two weeks
after it disappeared, and was obliged to take the description
from others. Its colour is a dark brown; it has an elongated
head, with a small aud sharp proboscis; and is in size between
the gnat and musqueto. When it alights upon a horse, it
darts through the hair, much like a gnat, and never quits its
hold until removed by force. When a horse stops to drink,
swarms fly about the head, and crowd into the mouth, nostrils,
and ears; hence it is supposed the poison is communicated in-
wardly. Whether this be true or not, the most fatal conse-
quences result. It is singular, that from the time of its first
appearance, it has never extended for a greater distance than
forty miles in one direction, and, usually, it is confined to
fifteen miles. In no other part of the country has it ever been
seen. From this fact, it would seem probable that the cause
of its existence is local, But what it is none can tell. After
the warm weather commences, it disappears as effectually from

Hi6 Tour through Virginia, §:c.

human observation, as if it were annihilated. Towards the
close of December it springs up all at once into being again,
and resumes the work of destruction. A fact, so singular, I
could not have ventured to state, without the best evidence of
its reality. All the circumstances here related are familiar tu
hundreds, and were in almost every man’s mouth when I
passed through the country, In addition to this, they were
confirmed by the account which I received from Colonel Jolin
M‘Kee, a gentleman of much intelligence and respectability,
who is the present agent of the general government for the Choc-
taw nation. He has conseuted to obtain specimens of the insect
for your examination, when it returns again; and will, I hope,
accompany the transmission with a more perfect description
than it has been possible for me to communicate.

In concluding this narrative of facts, I should be glad to
take a comprehensive view of the whole. ‘The bold features
in the geology of the United States, as they are drawn by the
Blue Ridge, the Cumberland, with its associated mountains,
and the Dividing Ridge, deserve to be distinctly and strongly
impressed upon the mind, Such is the order and regularity
of their arrangement, that they can hardly fail to conduct the
attentive observer to important results. What has now been
said of them, is but an epitome of the whole. I trust the
public will soon read, in the pages of your journal, a detail
more perfect and more interesting. And allow me to suggest,
whether, under the auspices of our learned societies, some men
of science might not be employed and supported in exploring
the country, with the prospect of greatly enlarging the science
of our country, and of enriching our journals and cabinets of
natural history. Tours of discovery have often been made for
other objects, and with success, Our country yields to no
other in the variety, or the value, of its natural productions,
We owe it to ourselves and to the world, to search them out
with diligence and without delay.

Somers, (NV. Y.) Oct. 1818.

END OF CORNELIUS’S TOUR.

W. Lewis, Printe’, Finch-lane, Cornhill.

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